Unattainable
by Megameatloafcake
Summary: For those interested, I'm reworking this story on Ao3. After Doll encounters a young woman with the ability to predict futures, Joker decides to allow her to audition for a spot in the Noah's Ark Circus. As months go by Joker begins to realize that he has developed feelings her, something he's been afraid of. But he will soon discover that the love he longs for is not his to own.
1. Chapter 1

*****Just a quick disclaimer: I only own my OC as well as the plot of this fic, which was created for entertainment purposes only. Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler and all of its characters belong to Yana Toboso. This is also my first publicly-published (ha, that's redundant) fanfiction, so please let me know what I can improve on in terms of my writing.*****

 **Chapter One**

"Doll? Where are 'ee?"

Normally Joker wouldn't mind the hot and humid weather that England would produce during the summer, but today was particularly miserable and unbearingly hot. He had tied his hair up to keep himself cool and only wore a plain white dress shirt rolled up to his elbows and his usual trousers and boots- he hates to go out into the town without his regular circus attire but he made an exception since it was too bloody hot. The circus leader let out a frustrated sigh and ran his skeleton-like prosthetic through his bright orange hair; he had lost the youngest member of his circus troupe and was growing quite irritated, especially since he and the rest of the troupe had to search for her in the busy town full of people in this damnable heat.

"Damnit! Where did she run off to now?" a very grumpy and overheated Peter shouted.

"Perhaps she went into a sweet shop?" Jumbo suggested, hovering over the group so that they could use his shadow for shade. A unison of groans was the closest thing to a reply the group gave him.

"She could be anywhere by now," Beast huffed as she fluffed her curly hair, which was a poofy mess thanks to the heat and humidity, to cool herself off.

"Right then: Beast, go with Peter 'n Wendy an' search through ev'ry sweet shop north of this town. Jumbo, Dagger, and me will take the- Dagger?" Joker whirled around to look for the young knife-thrower who was nowhere to be seen. "Son of a- "

The group collectively groaned louder and cursed.

"We can't go anywhere without losin' one o' the two!" Wendy whined.

The red-head wanted to slam his face against a brick wall. It had been his idea to go into town and tour the area to get a grasp at the type of people the circus would be performing for, but now thanks to him he had lost two of his star performers and it was so hot and he felt like he was drowning in sweat and he was way too tired to deal with this kind of bullshit.

"Oi! We're over 'ere!"

Everyone snapped their heads at the sound of Dagger's voice. The bleached-haired young man waved at them from the entrance of a turquoise painted caravan. _Ah_ , Joker thought. _They were distracted by the Romani people, of course this is where they would be_. The ringleader was just relieved that they had found Dagger and, presumably, Doll.

"WHAT THE 'ELL DAGGER?" Beast, on the other hand, was quite angry that they had lost Dagger while searching for Doll. "We turn our backs for not even a minute and you're gone the next!"

Dagger laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Sorry guys. I went to look for Doll by meself but she found me and told me to come check this out. The lot of you oughtta check this out too!"

Joker examined the caravan the group had walked up to. It had the words "Gypsy's Fortunes" written in curved yellow paint and a mule lounged in the shade the caravan had provided.

"Miss Gypsy?" Dagger called through the entryway. "'ow many folks do you reckon could fit in 'ere?

"Probably about twelve at the absolute most," a smooth female voice with a slight accent called back, "but it will be a tight squeeze."

Joker looked over his shoulder to the rest of the group and gestured for them to follow his lead. He climbed up the steps of the small ladder and brushed past Dagger to walk inside. The interior of the caravan seemed as though it was large enough of one person to comfortably live in and was brightly colored and patterned. Across from where Joker stood was a bed with several blankets folded on top of it and several decorated pillows and cabinets beneath it. To the left was a shelf with cabinets for what Joker could only assume was food, with a tiled-off section beneath it where a kettle was held above a fire pit. To the right was a small coffee table that held two empty tea cups in front of a rather plush but small couch with a window behind it where Doll was sitting next to a rather attractive young woman with smooth darkened skin and curled black hair tied back by a red scarf. Her most striking feature were her bright green eyes that seemed to glisten with interest when they met with violet. She was wearing a dress with white sleeves that fell off her shoulders and was incredibly colorful, something Joker thought suited the circus well. He noticed that she held a deck of tarot cards in her hands with some cards splayed out across the table in a circle and Doll's excited expression. He could hear the footsteps of the other members walking in behind him, Jumbo grunted as his massive height forced him to hunch over to fit into the caravan.

"What's going on in 'ere? Card tricks?"

Doll, who had been facing away from the door, jumped a bit at Joker's voice and flinched at the glares she was receiving from Peter, Wendy, and Beast. She laughed nervously and scratched her cheek guiltily.

"Sorry for running off on ya, but you've gotta see this! A genuine fortune teller she is!"

The referred to young woman laughed at the freckle-faced girl's comment, Joker rose a curious brow.

"Ohh, genuine aye? 'ow's about I observe 'ere then? I do run a circus and we're always looking for new talent."

The dark woman moved over on the couch and patted the now empty space next to her.

"No need to be shy, all are welcome to watch." She gestured over to a stack of a few chairs on the other side of the couch and some extra pillows laying on her bed. "Please, feel free to make yourselves at home."

Joker smiled at her invitation and helped himself to the seat that she had offered next to herself. Beast's eyes darted between Joker and the dark woman before she huffed and pulled up a chair to sit next to Doll, Dagger promptly pulled his own chair next to her. Jumbo, Peter, and Wendy had settled themselves on the floor in front of the coffee table.

"I take it that yer name's Gypsy, judging by the fancy words that're on the side o' the caravan," Joker guessed.

The woman nodded.

"Should I make you some tea? I know that it's hot outside, but I always offer tea to onlookers." They all shook their heads and she only smiled warmly. "Very well. As it has been established my name is Gypsy and I am a fortune teller. Now this may not be the exact future, but instead is the most likely outcome of a person's life." She gestured to the tarot cards she held. "I am able to predict a person's fortune by palmistry, tasseography, or by tarot card readings. Normally I charge a hefty fee for these predictions, but Miss Doll here was just so cute and curious that I am giving her fortune readings for free." She affectionately patted Doll's cheek, something that made Joker smile.

"How about crystal balls?" Peter asked as he lounged back against Jumbo. "I thought that gypsies were famous for that."

Wendy smacked Peter's arm for his vulgarity and Joker frowned at him. Gypsy only waved her hand and scoffed.

"Serying is such a theatrical way of fortune telling and is cliché. It's rather difficult to get a proper reading from all the blurry images of a crystal ball."

"Eh?" Joker turned to her with a mockingly confused look. "But I thought that sort of reading would be… _crystal clear._ "

He saw the chance and he took it by the throat. Beast, Peter, and Wendy groaned at their leader's pun as he sat there giggling to himself along with Dagger and Doll. Gypsy and Jumbo let out a snort before she turned her attention back to her tarot cards.

"Alright Miss Doll, I need you to shuffle the deck of cards please. This is so the cards can sense your energy and perform the reading as accurate to you as possible." The freckle-faced girl was more than excited to shuffle the cards and quickly did so, though not without almost dropping the cards everywhere. "Now," Gypsy took the cards back, "is there any particular question that you have in mind?"

Doll thoughtfully pressed her forefinger to her lip, her blue eye that was not covered by her mousy brown hair trailed upward.

"Well, there is this dream that I'll 'ave every once in a while. Can you do dream interpretations too?"

Gypsy smiled and nodded.

"I certainly can. I can interpret all kinds of things, depending on the question being asked. There are a wide variety of different spreads that I read since there are so many questions someone could ask me. You don't have to tell me the specifics of the dream, the cards already know that. All I need you to do now is to select three cards," she splayed the cards out for the girl to take, all of them face-down so that no one could see.

Joker curiously watched as Doll selected her three cards and handed them back to the woman, who then set them down on the table in front of them for everyone to watch.

"This first card represents the relevance of the dream when applied to real life. The second card represents the lessons your dream is teaching you. And this last card represents how you can apply the lessons of this dream to your daily life. Are you ready?"

She didn't need to ask Doll twice as she nodded eagerly, practically bouncing in her seat on the sofa she was so excited. Gypsy then flipped the cards over, one at a time, and sat in silence for a while as she stared at them.

"What do they mean, then?"

"Patience Doll," Beast scolded. "Let her take a minute to sort it out."

A couple more moments of silence passed before the fortune teller spoke.

"You have nothing to fear," she smiled warmly at the young girl, then tapped on the card on the farthest left. "This first card is the Three of Cups. You are a very creative and friendly person, accepting of everyone and eager to build friendships."

Joker smiled at Gypsy's words, they were certainly like Doll so far.

"The dream is trying to teach you about the cautions of being so naïve and blindly trusting of others, represented by the Reversed Fool," her hand hovered over the center card. "If you continue to be so quick to forgive you may experience a painful betrayal and will be quite hurt by new friends who might try and use you. And this last card the Page of Swords tells me that you are talkative, energetic, and mentally restless."

"Did the cards tell you that or did you figure that one out for yourself?" Peter snidely commented, still irritated from losing Doll and the heat.

Gypsy simply ignored the comment while a few quite snorts fell from the others.

"The lesson you should take from this dream is that you should become a little more cautious when it comes to meeting new people. Kindness certainly isn't a bad thing, but naïvety can be a dangerous thing."

Doll sat there staring at the cards with her mouth agape while Joker let out a low whistle.

"Didja really get all tha' from jus' three cards?"

"That and simply from spending time with Miss Doll," Gypsy replied as she gathered her cards. "Why, I was sitting in the shade with my mule and playing my lyre when this little one noticed me and practically bounded up to me. Not that I mind at all," she rustled Doll's hair affectionately, "I needed the company, and Miss Doll is such a bright and curious girl so I didn't mind showing her what I knew."

The aforementioned girl giggled at the compliment and leaned forward in her seat to talk to Joker.

"Can she join the circus then? You've seen her read my fortune, she's amazing!"

Joker stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"Do 'ee attract a lot of attention with yer readings then?"

"Certainly," the dark woman replied with a nod. "My most popular reading is tea leaves since they are easier to read on a day-to-day basis."  
The redhead pursed his lips out thoughtfully

"While the readings would be good for attractin' a crowd before the show, I need to know if 'ee can perform an act. Anything ye can do in front of a 'uge crowd?"

Gypsy shrugged.

"I can perform contortions." Joker's eyes lit up. "Romani people often perform dances for festivals and the like."

The ringleader grinned.

"Right then, I s'pose I could let you audition for a spot in the Noah's Ark Circus."

Gypsy's eyebrows shot up in shock.

"Noah's Ark? I had no idea you were from such a well-known circus."

Joker laughed a little as he and the rest of the troupe began to stand up.

"Well we've certainly grown a name for ourselves over the years."

"Oh, there's no need for you all to stand up. I could give you all a ride back to your camp. It's hot outside and I should make up for distracting your two members and making you all wander around town."

Everyone gave her an appreciative smile as they all plopped back down into their original seats and positions as Gypsy made her way out of the caravan.

"Ain't she a sweet one," Beast said rather dryly as she settled herself back into the chair she had been residing in.

"At least she's not makin' us walk all the way back in this hellish heat," Wendy called as she leaned back against Jumbo.

The troupe could hear Gypsy's muffled voice as she shouted something that was definitely not English. Joker curiously peeked through the window behind him and saw that Gypsy was trying to push her mule up from his position of lounging in the shade.

"Bo," she whined with a laugh as she tried to push him up from behind. The mule only snorted at her attempts.

Joker and the rest of the troupe laughed at the scene, though he stood up and crossed the room to the pantry.

"Donkeys like carrots, yeah?"

"Yeah, why?" Doll called back as she helped herself to laying on the entire couch now that Gypsy and Joker were no longer occupying it.

Joker didn't respond and only moved to the door, where he noticed that the caravan was all set up like a carriage, and began to wave the carrots.

"Oi, Bo!"

The mule turned his head lazily towards Joker's voice and almost immediately stood up when he saw the orange treat the man was dangling out for him. Gypsy grinned at Joker and followed as Bo trotted up to Joker as he guided the mule to his position in front of the caravan. She then connected the turquoise bars to a saddle which she situated on Bo's back easily and whispered something to him while patting his side. Joker passed her the carrots which were then fed to the eager mule. Gypsy hauled herself onto the porch and took a seat with the reigns in her hands, her green eyes shining dazzlingly in the sun.

"Thank you for your help, Mister Joker."

Her formality was so alien to him that he had to laugh.

"Just call me Joker, no need for fancy titles or anything."

"Would you mind giving me directions to your camp?" She asked, still holding the reigns up in her hands.

"Certainly," he replied with an awkward laugh, "it ain't too far from 'ere. Take a left at the end o' the street there."

The caravan shook as it finally began to move, rattling as Bo pulled it along. Joker could hear the other first stringers talking inside behind him, but he was perfectly content sitting with his new companion.

"Why did you choose to start a circus of all things, if you don't mind me asking?" Gypsy asked, though her eyes concentrated on the road ahead of them.

"I don't mind the question at all, I get asked that a lot as a matter o' fact. Well y'see, all us came from the East End and grew up together as children," he jutted his thumb at his crew. "Like a family we are. Eventually some nobleman came to us, took us in with 'im, gave us new arms and legs, and 'elped us fund the Noah's Ark Circus. We want to make people merry an' forget their 'ardships."

Gypsy smiled peacefully.

"What a lovely reason."

Joker turned his head slightly to look at her.

"I've got a question for ye, if that's okay?" She nodded, so he continued. "Why are 'ee traveling all by yerself? I thought that Romani folk like to travel in big groups together?"

Her lips melted into a rather bitter frown and Joker felt his heart sink at the sight.

"I was kicked out of my camp because my people believe that I am a witch," she responded before he could apologize and take the question back. "I was originally born in France, but we travelled all over Europe and I eventually picked up on the trade of fortune telling. But I was also born as a seer," she looked to Joker with a cheeky grin. "That means that I can see into the distant future and accurately predict the what will happen."

Joker suddenly grew interested in his new friend.

"That's mighty interestin'! I'd only 'eard 'bout it in stories, but I guess I'll 'ave a chance to see it for meself!"

Gypsy laughed a little before continuing with her story.

"Problems did not start arising at first; fortune telling is a way that many Romani people make their living. But one day I made a prediction about someone's death which came true and was banished- half of the people thought I was the one who murdered him while the other half thought that I cursed him." She chuckled rather darkly, "didn't help that I was not particularly fond of this man, my father wanted me to marry him before he died. But at least they gave me this caravan and good old Bo here," she reached out and patted the mule affectionately.

Joker felt his heart sink deeper, if it could do that.

"'ee travelled all the way from France? Why're 'ee in England of all places then?" He then pointed with his right hand, which Gypsy seemed to regard curiously. "Oh, ye're goin' to take a right up 'ere, then another left 'round the corner."

Gypsy nodded at his instructions.

"I didn't want to risk running into my family if I went to France, and England is the second best option for travelers. Besides, I've heard that the Romani people who have settled here are more welcoming and friendly- I was actually on my way to Covent Garden." She then turned her head and looked at him. "You said you were from the East End, yeah? Perhaps I've seen you there before?"

Joker grinned as he remembered when he would go with the others to Covent Garden back when they were without a home. During the summer Romani people from all over would come to pick all sorts of berries and vegetables until early September. He remembered living in a small hut, laughing with the others and feasting on the only real source of food they would ever get the rest of the year. The Romani people didn't even mind that they were all "broken", they were just glad for the extra help no matter what form it took. They unfortunately hadn't visited Covent Garden ever since Father took them in, and they especially didn't have the time to go because of the circus. Perhaps he should consider making the time.

"Aye, we might've seen each other."

As the caravan turned the second corner they spotted the array of brightly colored tents as well as the loudness of the beloved circus.

"I take it that this is your camp then?" Gypsy asked playfully as she pointed at the large sign above the fairground with 'Noah's Ark Circus' painted in fancy-looking yellow lettering.

"Aye, this be it," Joker peered through the doorway from over his shoulder and called to his group. "Oi! We've reached the camp now, so best we prepare for the audition once we've stopped."

The troupe members, some of them dozing off during the ride, merely grunted a response. The caravan was lead through the camp and was stopped where the large blue practice tent stood.

"Right then, Gypsy," Joker practically leaped off the porch and onto the dirt below him. "I welcome 'ee to the grandest circus troupe in all o' England. Welcome to the Noah's Ark Circus!"


	2. Chapter 2

*****Thanks to everyone who followed and favorited the story on this first chapter, it really does mean a lot! I plan on updating this story at least once a month since I'll be busy with university and all that jazz. Feel free to leave a comment if you'd like, I would love to know what you guys think of the story so far and what you would like to see in the future! I won't let you guys down! And for those of you who are wondering, this story will be told mostly from Joker's perspective since I haven't really read anything that's exclusively from his point of view- I wanna explore his character some more and his interactions with the other performers since we didn't really get to see much of it in the anime!*****

 **Chapter Two**

Joker stood with his arms held out rather dramatically, ignoring the odd looks some of the other circus members were giving him. Gypsy took her time observing what she could see- the bustling excitement of the many circus members ran about filled her with energy.

"Yeah, yeah. We know who we are, just be quick about this audition, yeah?" Peter said as he hopped out of the caravan, turning to help Wendy step out as well.

Gypsy waited until everyone was out before detaching Bo from the caravan, tossing his saddle onto the front porch, and patting his back.

"Oh! I can take 'im!" Doll suddenly called out, hurrying up to the Romani woman and reaching out for Bo's reigns. "I'll put 'im with the horses and take real good care of him for ya!"

The young girl had already lead the mule away before Gypsy could even respond. Joker laughed and gently patted her shoulder.

"She certainly wants 'ee to be part of the circus, don't she? Best not let her down, eh?"

The young woman smiled and nodded.

"I won't disappoint her!"

Joker beamed and wrapped an arm around her shoulders (she wasn't much shorter than himself, but just short enough for the top of her head to be a comfortable chin rest if he wanted) and lead her into the practice tent, which was now vacant of people aside from Beast, Wendy, Peter, and Dagger who told the trainees to leave to allow privacy for the audition.

"But what about my caravan?" Gypsy asked as she looked over her shoulder. "Would it be alright to just leave it where it could get in the way?"

Dagger came up and waved his hand dismissively.

"Don't worry about that, Jumbo's probably movin' it now. So Boss," he referred to Joker, "what're you goin' to have her do first?"

The ringleader placed his hands on his hips and hummed thoughtfully.

"'ee said you could perform contortions, ain't that right?" Gypsy nodded and he beamed. "Well, I'll 'ave 'ee walk on that tightrope as the first part of yer audition. Ye'll be pretty much usin' all the same sorts o' muscles, yeah?"

He pointed up at the tightrope, which was a good six meters from the ground, and chuckled at her nervous facial expression.

"Shouldn't there be a safety net?"

"Don't need one," Wendy piped up. "If you do it right you won't fall, lots of pressure on you to not break your neck, so you best do it right on your first go."

Joker guided her to the ladder, the smile never once leaving his face.

"When ye're performing there ain't no safety net. No need to worry though, I'll be with 'ee to make sure 'ee don't fall."

The woman nodded as she was practically dragged over to the ladder. Joker grabbed hold of the rungs of the ladder and began to climb upwards, figuring that he oughtta climb first so that he wouldn't risk looking up her skirt or anything. He glanced down to make sure that Gypsy was climbing up after him and grinned when he saw that she was. After a few moments of climbing Joker made it up to the platform, crossing over to the tightrope and removed his boots. He had to laugh as Gypsy made it up to the platform, doubled over with labored breathing.

"Winded already? 'ee 'aven't even started walkin' 'cross the tightrope yet."

Gypsy held up a finger as she attempted to catch her breath and toed her own shoes off when she saw that Joker was barefoot.

"I'm not all that physically active, I'm afraid." She eyed the tightrope suspiciously, "so how are you planning on making this work, exactly?"

"It's simple," Joker stood up and gestured down the tightrope to the platform on the opposite side of them, "just walk across this 'ere tightrope and ye'll 'ave passed the first part of yer audition."

"Oi!" Doll called up to them. "Are you walkin' on it with her?"

"'ow else am I gonna prevent her from fallin'?" Joker called back cheerily.

Dagger whistled, the sound echoed through the empty space of the tent.

"'elping her out with her audition are you? You must really want her to join the circus if you're willin' to do that!"

Unbeknownst to Joker and Gypsy, Beast was glaring harshly at the younger woman- Joker hadn't done this sort of thing with anyone before, so why do it now?

"Alright everyone, I'm going to need you all to be quiet so we can concentrate," Joker called down to the lot. He then faced Gypsy, took her hand in his, and guided her onto the tightrope as he walked backwards. "Now, in order to keep ye from falling I'm gonna need 'ee to old on to me- I ain't gonna letcha fall. I want 'ee to keep yer breathing calm and steady, concentrate on me, and walk slowly with the balls of yer feet. Understand?" Though her bright green eyes looked uncertain she pressed her lips together in a thin line and nodded, Joker grinned. "Right then, 'ere we go."

He stepped backwards onto the cool thin wire, lightly gripping Gypsy's hands to help maintain his balance while she was still on the platform. She nervously placed one foot onto the tightrope, gripping onto his forearms tightly and trembled as she tried to keep her balance and place her other foot on the rope.

"Relax, ye're doin' just fine," Joker reassured gently. "I'll let 'ee take a moment to get used to the feel o' the tightrope, an' remember that I ain't gonna letcha fall. Keep yer chest up an' out, keep yer center as tight as possible," he clapped his own abdomen to demonstrate what he meant, "an' the most important thing is rememberin' to breathe."

Gypsy obediently kept her eyes on Joker, the death-grip she had on his forearms loosened as she got used to standing on the tightrope. He smiled warmly.

"Now we're gonna start walkin', alright? It ain't no different than walkin' down the street, so let's take this nice an' slow yeah?" He slowly took a step backward as she took her step forward, he could already feel his muscles tighten and knew that they would be sore tomorrow- it had been quite some time since he's last had to do this. "Avoid usin' yer toes. It's a funny thing to get used to but they can get all caught up on the wire."

She nodded at his instructions, though she was tempted to take a glance down at her feet. As she took another step she felt herself start to slip a bit and let out a sharp gasp, her death grip on his forearms returned and Joker laughed a little at her expression and the feeling of her nails lightly digging into the flesh of his left arm.

"Watch it now," he helped her quickly regain her balance. "See? Since I'm with 'ee there's no way ye're goin' to fall."

He certainly tried his best to remain supportive and soothing throughout the ordeal. As they continued to walk along the tightrope her hold on his forearms slipped down into his hands, they were even able to walk at a slightly faster pace. Soon enough they reached the opposite platform and Gypsy let out a breathless laugh upon realizing that she made it across, the red-head smiled at the sight.

"'ee see? 'ee did so well!"

Glancing down Joker saw that only Doll and Dagger had stayed to watch the audition, the others had left some time while they were walking, which was a shame since they wouldn't be able to see how well she had been doing so far.

"Oi, Dagger!" He called down with his hands cupped around his mouth, the bleached-haired lad looked up. "Could 'ee fetch the jugglin' balls from the back for me please?" Dagger swung his arm and gave him a thumbs up as he headed towards the back, "thanks!"

"You're doing great Gypsy!" Doll shouted to her.

The Romani woman had been slightly bouncing on her heels as adrenaline pumped through her and she waved down at the younger girl.

"Wait," she abruptly stilled and shot a glance down the tightrope. "Our shoes are on the other platform, and it wouldn't make much sense to climb down this platform and then climb onto the other one…"

Joker's grin spread wider across his face, she caught on to his plan quickly. He spun her around so that she once again faced the tightrope and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Ain't 'ee a perceptive one? Ye're gonna walk all the way back to the opposite platform, but this time I ain't gonna be holdin' onto 'ee the whole time. Ye'll 'ave to show me that 'ee can make it on yer own, but I'll be behind 'ee to make sure 'ee won't fall. This time 'ee need to keep yer arms out to yer sides as straight as possible to help 'ee balance, an' remember everything I told 'ee to do earlier."

The dark woman mumbled something under her breath, Joker assumed that she was either cursing or saying a quick prayer, and slowly stepped onto the tightrope once again with the ring leader following suit. He watched her carefully as they walked along the wire, taking mental note of the tiny mistakes she occasionally made. He was pleased with how quick of a learner she was and was even more so once they made it to the first platform without a single issue. He clapped as he plopped himself down once again to pull his boots back onto his feet.

"Bravo Gypsy! 'ee passed the first part of the exam, well done!"

Gypsy laughed as she pulled her own boots on as well, she looked at him rather curiously as they laced their boots up.

"How are you so good at tightrope walking?"

Joker grinned at her as he stood up.

"If I can't walk on a tightrope, then what sort o' ringleader would I be? I have to know how to do the basics, o' course." He then bounded over to the ladder, "come, come! We still 'ave the rest of yer audition to complete!"

The young man practically slid down the ladder, he was glad that this newcomer had been showing such promise so far.

"'ere are those balls you asked for," Dagger called as he placed the small crate down on a nearby bench. He then turned to Joker with a sly smirk. "I ain't seen you walk the tightrope with an auditionee before, you must really fancy her if you're willing to do that!"

Doll came up to Joker's side and playfully elbowed his ribcage.

"Am I a great match maker or what?"

Joker scoffed at the girl, rolling his eyes and playfully placing his left hand over her face and pushing her away.

"I was just testin' out a safer way for auditionees to walk across the tightrope. And besides," his expression suddenly turned serious, almost sad, and his voice deepened as he spoke in his normal Cockney British accent rather than his cheery Irish one, "even if I did fancy 'er, I doubt that Father would be pleased. I can't afford that type of luxury with everythin' we've done."

The other two seemed slightly taken back by his sudden change of tone and the two shifted their saddened gaze downward in understanding. Dagger then straightened out, putting on his usual bright smile.

"Well, I'm gonna go find Beast. Perhaps we could spend some more romantic time together," Joker laughed, he could practically see the hearts forming around the younger man as he spoke.

"Yeah, I'll head out too," Doll said, "I'm gonna go grab somethin' to snack on." She turned around and began to walk backwards as she waved to Joker and Gypsy, "good luck with the rest of the audition you two!"

Gypsy had finally made it down the ladder and next to Joker, then waved to Doll. Dagger smirked again as he looked back over his shoulder to the two.

"Oh, I'm sure she'll make it in. No way Joker's gonna letcha fail since he-"

"Off with 'ee now!" Joker chided as he shooed the giggling youngsters out of the tent, then strode back over to where the crate of balls sat and where Gypsy stood, holding her arms behind her back and swaying herself in a slight circle as she waited for him.

"So what's next? I think I heard something about juggling?"

Joker nodded as he reached into the crate and pulled out three colorful balls.

"Aye, I'll be testing yer 'and-to-eye coordination next," he handed the balls to her. "'ee know 'ow to juggle, yeah?"

Gypsy nodded and began to juggle the three balls she was given, her green eyes concentrating carefully on them. Joker seated himself next to the crate and watched her for a bit.

"'ere's another one for ya!"

He tossed another ball to her, laughing as she faltered for a bit before getting the hang of the fourth.

"Don't get comfortable jus' yet! 'ere comes another one!"

It continued like this for some time; Joker would toss a ball when he felt that she had gotten the hang of it, she would falter a bit and slowly get accustomed to it. Once Joker tossed the sixth ball Gypsy tripped trying to catch it, removing her eyes from the others for just a second, and dropping them all. He couldn't help but laugh as the brightly colored objects bounced off of her.

"Don't beat yerself up about it, 'ee did great! Not many auditionees make it past five of these balls, and even I struggle juggling eight o' them."

He knelt down and helped her gather the balls.

"How many more tests should I look forward to?" Gypsy asked as she stood up with the balls gathered in her arms. Joker stood up as well and walked up to the crate.

"Jus' one more test should do," he replied as he dumped the balls he was holding into the crate, Gypsy doing the same thing before he picked the crate up. "If 'ee would follow me please, I just need to put this back into storage and then we'll start yer final test."

The woman obediently followed him into the storage area behind some curtains towards the back of the tent, and as Joker set the box in place Gypsy curiously looked through some of the boxes filled with all sorts of junk.

"Would 'ee mind taking me into yer caravan for this last test?" he asked, holding a nearby flap of the tent open for her and bowing rather gentlemanly causing his auditionee to giggle.

"Shall I be reading your fortune for you as this final test?"

She ducked through the opening and turned to face Joker as he came out after herself. As soon as they were outside he tapped her nose with his ungloved left hand.

"Right on the nose 'ee are. While I did see yer predictions for Doll I didn't get to see the other sorts of readings 'ee said 'ee could do. I need to yer showmanship for the customers who come and see 'ee, after all."

Gypsy's eyes seemed to glisten excitedly and she nodded once at him, but then she looked around and her face slightly dropped.

"Uh…where would Jumbo have taken my caravan to?"

 _Oh right…_

They both shot glances all around the campground for either her mobile home or for Jumbo, luckily Joker was able to easily spot the turquoise caravan against the orange of the second-tier members' sleeping tents.

"There it is."

The woman looked relieved as she spotted her home and they both quickly slipped through the sea of orange until they were in front of the colorful caravan. Gypsy then faced Joker with a serious expression on her face.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this reading? I will not put up with skeptics or non-believers nor will I tolerate rude comments during these readings. These are intended for the questioning or for those with an open mind and an open heart. Remember that I can only predict the most likely outcome rather than the exact future."

Joker was slightly taken aback by her sudden change of demeanor and glanced between her and the caravan before smiling.

"Absolutely."

Gypsy smirked at him rather slyly, climbing up the steps of her caravan and opening the door. She looked at him from over her shoulder and crooked her finger at him as an invitation.

"Well, why don't you come in then?"

Joker entered the already familiar environment and seated himself on the couch as Gypsy began to busy herself with preparations. She lit a fire for her kettle and lit a thick white branch as well, which she walked around the room with and filled the small space with smoke as she chanted in what he could only assume was her native language. The ringleader coughed a bit and his eyes watered from the smoke. Gypsy smiled at him apologetically.

"Sorry for all this, but you said you wanted showmanship. I burn sage in order to prevent evil spirits from disrupting the readings." She then snuffed the branch out and crossed over to her small cupboard to set up the tea. "For the tea readings I don't filter out the tea leaves, so you'll need to be careful when drinking." Gypsy finally sat next to him and held her hand out. "Now, while we wait for the water to boil I'll go on ahead with your palm reading."

Joker was about to give her his right hand, but the paused and laughed.

"S'pose ye'll wanna look at me real hand then."

As soon as their hands touched he could have sworn that he felt a sudden jolt that nearly made him take his hand back. His heart began to flutter in his chest. He lifted his eyes to look at her and see if she had a similar reaction, only to find that her eyes were focusing on his palm. Now that he was sitting this close to her he was able to study her face properly: long dark eyelashes fanned over her cheeks as she looked down at his palm and framed her jade colored eyes, her lips were pressed into a taut line as she concentrated, her nose was quite cute and perky, and her hair which he initially believed to be black was actually a lovely dark chocolate brown with strands gathered into thin, tight curls that bounced lightly when she moved. Wait, when had he ever become so poetic when describing people? His heart thumped a little when she looked up at him with a smile.

"With palmistry every wrinkle and crease in your hand means something. Each of your fingers represents a planet: your pinkie is Mercury, then Apollo the sun, then Saturn, Jupiter, and Venus as your thumb." Joker nodded for her to continue, "this right here is your Life Line, which is surprisingly short," he frowned at that. "Your Heart Line is curved and broken, indicating that while you are under heavy stress as well as emotional trauma you are a very physical and emotional young man who can easily expresses his emotions."

Now Joker understood Doll's fascination with the young woman.

"Blimey," he muttered under his breath, to which Gypsy responded with a chuckle as she continued to trace her finger all along his palm, tickling him slightly.

"This is your Head Line, see how it slopes? That tells me you are romantic, creative, and idealistic. You are open to new ideas and are not afraid to investigate new concepts or beliefs, and you trust your intuition." She then traced her own finger from the edge of his wrist and up to the base of his ring finger, "your Fate Line tells me that you are content with your life at the circus, but you also have an someone who is controlling you and preventing you from achieving true happiness. This line becomes broken and tells me that you must be wary of this man, for he will lead you to your death should you continue to follow him."

Joker felt a quick surge of panic course through him, everything that she has said so far has been spot on. Does she really know? No, of course not. Father would have told him if he knew her, and the troupe never leaves any witnesses. He threw on a smile and laughed a little.

"Goodness, seems a wee bit morbid if 'ee ask me. Is this 'ow 'ee scare yer customers away?"

"Not at all," Gypsy replied and waved him off with her left hand. "There needs to good to balance out the bad in your life, so you may have something great in your life. Ha! Here we go," she cheered. "Your Line of Apollo tells me that your circus will continue to be a great success. Your troupe is quite creative and insightful, no doubt a reflection of a very good leader if you ask me."

She made eye contact with him for the first time during the palm reading and playfully winked at him. Joker grinned at her back.

"I s'ppose that could be true but I ain't the troupe leader, I'm just the peirott I'm afraid. Our troupe leader is the one who helps finance the circus, but is terrifying if 'ee get on his bad side. We circus folk gotta be creative people in order to perform, ye know?"

Gypsy nodded and gave him an understanding smile before shifting her attention back to his hand, now tracing over his wrist.

"These Bracelet Lines indicate that you will have a very good and healthy life," she then looked up at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "This next line is your Relationship Line." Joker scoffed, he certainly had no time for intimacy right now. "This tells me that you will become quite attached to your partner, although it doesn't look like romance is a significant part of your life." Her finger then ran along the base of his pinkie finger. "The lines are short but strong, which may parallel your future relationships."

He let out a bark of a laugh.

"Unfortunately for me I ain't got much time to spend on the luxury of a relationship. Dagger's crush on Beast is troublesome enough even if it is one-sided.

Gypsy merely shrugged.

"I'm just listing all of the possibilities," she laughed slightly. "And I can see that your Children Line say that you will have at least one child born out of wedlock," she looked up at the young man and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, and Joker held his prosthetic hand up and laughed.

"Ohhh no, none for me. I may be no blushin' virgin but I've certainly been careful so there ain't no little Jokers runnin' 'round."

The Romani woman laughed, snorting slightly and making Joker laugh.

"That was adorable!" he certainly was a sucker for cute laughs.

Gypsy blushed and snorted again. After a few more minutes of laughing she finally settled down enough to continue the reading though both of their bellies ached and thin streams of tears had run down their cheeks.

"Continuing where we left off; your Health Line is this line that runs from your thumb and pinkie. Though it looks like you suffered some illness in your past life, you are quite healthy now. Your Girdle of Venus tells me that you are a calm person who keeps his temper in check. I can see you don't have an Intuition Line- which isn't a bad thing, it just indicates that you are comfortable with crowds." She perked up once she heard the whistle of her tea kettle and quickly stood up to prepare the tea, quickly coming back with the two cups. "Alright, your Ring of Jupiter," she took a quick sip of her tea before she continued talking. "You are a very strong and responsible leader, which is to be expected of course. You are intelligent, respected, and are very thoughtful and tolerant of others." She only slightly frowned as she touched the base of his middle finger. "Most people who have a Ring of Saturn tend to be unhappy, overly serious, and don't live their life to the fullest. It is not commonly found on people who are so happy, so it's a little odd seeing that you have one."

Joker shifted a bit in his seat, she was crossing into some rather personal territory. Gypsy seemed to notice and rose a curious eyebrow, to which he responded with an apologetic smile as he lifted his tea cup to his lips.

"Sorry for moving so much, I get a bit antsy if I sit still for too long."

She nodded.

"Don't worry, I only have a couple more lines to check and then we'll start on the tea leaves." She glanced down at his palm one more time. "It doesn't look like you have a Ring of Apollo, which means that you do have a pretty positive outlook on life." Joker grinned at her comments, finding this whole reading interesting. "You have a variety of differently shaped lines on your palm that indicates a rather tragic past- feelings of insecurity and stress. These dot looking lines on your palm are especially worrying since they usually indicate you are in a pretty bad relationship, though I trust that this isn't a romantic relationship, and that whatever you're going through may ultimately lead to your death." She then held his hand in her own, which were warm and soft. "But they can disappear in time if you are able to overcome these obstacles. You also have triangles, which are very good. They represent good luck and tells me that you are able to analyze situations very carefully and well."

She then patted his hand and turned her attention to her tea. Joker stood up to stretch and relieve his cramping legs.

"'ow long does it normally take to read people's fortunes?"

She thoughtfully took another sip of tea.

"It depends on the type of fortune as well as the person. The readings can take anywhere between ten to thirty minutes. I've even had customers take more than an hour to complete their readings- they had trouble comprehending the meaning of their tea leaves and argued about what they thought it meant."

Joker laughed as he picked up his tea cup. They sat in comfortable silence as they drank their tea. Joker smiled and sat back down, noticing how easy it was to talk with this young woman and how relaxed he felt around her. After a couple more moments of silence he had run out of tea, Gypsy seemed to notice.

"May I see your cup?" she stood up and moved over so that she could see into his cup, he handed it over to her so she could see properly. She swirled the small amount of liquid around the cup three times and waited for it to settle. "This symbol at the very rim of the cup near the handle indicates that you experienced poverty in your past, something that you told me that you overcame. This symbol up by the rim on the other side of the handle shows your present, and the symbol is a lyre. This means that you will find happiness in love- and despite you telling me that you don't have an interest in romance, remember that nothing is impossible," she didn't let Joker interrupt her. "And the gramophone shape indicates that you will experience pleasure within this relationship, this area underneath the rim represents your near future."

As much as Joker wanted to protest against her love predictions he held his tongue. Somewhere in the back of his mind he thought about how he may give her a chance, but then shook his head to rid himself of the thought. He couldn't spare the time for something so intimate, especially after everything he and the rest of the circus members had done under the cover of night. All of the terrible things he had to do for Father. And even if he was in a relationship he wouldn't be able to hide her from Father, or vice versa. He hadn't realized that he was so deep in thought until Gypsy's hand waved over his face.

"Joker? Are you alright?"

He blinked upon hearing his name and smiled at her.

"I'm fine, just tuckered out I s'pose."

Gypsy nodded and looked back at the cup.

"I understand, luckily we're almost done with the readings. This area directly in front of the handle represents yourself. This pear represents that you are comfortable with the circus life…" she let out a hum and pressed her crooked finger to her lips. "This is strange; I haven't seen a broken pear before." She looked up with a concerned expression on her face. "While the pear normally indicates comfort, the broken lines indicate that you are actually not comfortable with your current situation. You are being deceived, possibly by the older man from your palm reading, and if you continue to allow this you will be lead to this scythe- which will lead to death."

Joker felt a chill run down his spine at the end of her prediction, Gypsy merely finished the last of her tea and gathered the two cups.

"But, like I've said earlier, that is not your definite future," she seemed to sense his unease and gave him a comforting grin before she rinsed out the two dishes. "So, what do you think? Have I made it into the circus?"

When Joker didn't give a reply she looked over her shoulder at him with a curious look in her piercing eyes. He was instead thinking rather deeply, replaying her presentation during the entire audition. She would need to improve her tightrope walking as well as her juggling, but her fortune telling would draw quite a crowd in if he offered it as a pre-show attraction. And then there was the contortions, he would have to see that in the practice tent someday. With a smile he stood up and placed his hands on his hips.

"Aye, I'd say that ye're right fit for the circus." Gypsy turned to him and a smile spread across her face. "And 'onestly 'ee already took care of yer stagename for me, ain't no use in changing it now that everyone already knows who 'ee are." He then held his prosthetic hand out for her to shake, "welcome aboard, Gypsy."


	3. Chapter 3

*****I am so sorry it's taken me such a long time to post another chapter! I recently started a new job and I've had all sorts of exams and art projects to work on and my laptop needed to be fixed and I've generally been getting a lot busier. D: I haven't forgotten about this fic though! I've been coming up with all sorts of ideas for where I want this to go, I write the chapters in a notebook to check for spelling and grammar mistakes, or if I need to add or change anything to make the story better. I also high-key head cannon Joker as being the makeup guru of the troupe (come one, look at that winged eyeliner!) Annddd, on with the chapter!*****

 **Chapter Three**

Gypsy glanced down at his hand briefly before a smile stretched across her face and she eagerly shook it. The Pierrot looped his arms around her shoulders after they stepped out of her caravan.

"Now that ye've got a stage name, we oughtta give 'ee a costume so that 'ee blend in better with the rest o' the performers."

He guided her back to the main tent but he opened a flap towards the back of the tent, gesturing for her to come inside.

"This is the backstage, where we all touch-up outfits, makeup, or any other sort o' last-minute stuff before going out to perform."

The room they stood in held three vanities, each holding several jars filled with the colorful waxes and paints for makeup, combs, brushes, scissors, sewing supplies, and a variety of other random objects. Wooden crates lined the walls, each filled with all sorts of props for the acts. Beside the vanities was a long rack of clothes in a variety of colors, designs, and fabrics sectioned off with labels that had the names of the first-tier staff as well as one larger section labelled "etc.". Beast was hanging up one of her own outfits for a performance when the two entered, eyeing Gypsy as she stood near Joker, who seemed happy to see the busty woman.

"Beast, glad ye're 'ere! I need 'ee to 'elp Gypsy pick out a costume for performin' and practin' in, if 'ee would."

Beast cocked a brow and placed a hand on her hips.

"I'll take it she's made it in then?"

"Why else would I be bringin' 'er 'ere?" Joker said with a laugh which caused Beast the blush slightly in embarrassment. He lightly pushed Gypsy forward and moved to sit in a nearby chair at a vanity to prepare her makeup. "I'll stay 'ere an' supervise, but I ain't gonna look at 'ee while ye're changin'."

A twang of jealousy hit Beast's heart, but she did as she was told and gestured Gypsy to stand next her and began to dig through the "etc." section. She held up a couple of different blouses before shaking her head and muttering to herself, Gypsy is nearly as small as Doll.

"You said somethin' 'bout doin' contortions, yeah?" Gypsy nodded and Beast hummed. "Probably wanna be wearin' pants or somethin'. Augh, 'ardly anythin' is gonna fit you, you're too small!"

Now Joker and Gypsy frowned.

"Well, I may have something in my caravan…" she was cut off by Beast yanking something off the rack and shoving it into her arms.

"Here, you'll have to tie this one on. Doll used to wear it, so it should fit you well enough." Gypsy began to examine the fabric, but Beast grew impatient. "Go on, put that on while I keep lookin' for pants."

Gypsy sent a glance over to Joker, who had his back turned to her and was occupying himself with organizing the makeup on one of the vanities, before she pulled her dress over her head. Beast gave her a once over and nearly laughed- Gypsy must've been at least one year younger than herself, but she had the body of a girl who was just starting to develop. The dark woman slipped her arms through her sleeves and tied the fabric together at the front; the shirt was black and had faux silver coins dangling from the bottom. Beast let out a satisfied hum before she dug around some more.

"Oi, Joker. I'm going to let her use one of your older pair of trousers."

Joker waved his hand behind him as he sorted through the jars, too concentrated to dare peek at the two young women. Beast then handed Gypsy a small pair of black and white trousers patterned with vertical stripes, which she slipped into easily though she had to tie a pretty tight knot to keep the trousers from sliding off her hips. Beast finally handed her a small pair of crimson flats and pushed her in front of a mirror for Gypsy to inspect her outfit as she slid her feet into the shoes.

"Looks good?" Beast asked.

Gypsy nearly snorted at her reflection- had she wandered back to her people wearing this they would all die of shock from the scandalous amount of skin she was showing, and the thought made her smile. Her shirt exposed a large amount of her torso, and the trousers she wore were form fitting and only reached halfway down her calves. She moved around experimentally and making sure that none of her clothes slipped. Overall she was quite pleased with her new look. She turned to look at Beast and nodded.

"It looks great, well done Beast," Joker called from over his shoulder.

The two women turned to Joker who now stood facing them, grabbing one of the other stools to place in front of the vanity. Beast blushed a little at Joker complimenting her work before she quickly left. Joker gestured to the stool in front of the vanity he was organizing

"If ye'll sit 'ere, I'm just gonna paint yer face for 'ee!"

Gypsy sat on the stool as she untied her bandanna, letting her poofy hair fall onto her shoulders before retying her hair back with her bandanna so that her curls were out of her face. She looked up at Joker and smiled, her green eyes shining in the light. Joker felt his heart skip a beat while he took his seat across from her. Her hair was so pretty when it was taken down, but he forced himself to concentrate on what sort of design she should have. He dipped a brush into one of the jars of red grease paint, he then took her chin in his hand and held it still as he applied the paint on her face. He carefully painted three circles beneath her eyes, making them increase in size the further out they got with the largest painted on her cheekbone. He did this on both sides of her face.

"Pay attention to 'ow I'm doin' this, I'll expect 'ee to be able to do this on yer own. Can't do yer makeup and my own if I 'ave to perform, now can I?"

She laughed, her nose crinkling cutely as she snorted. It was almost as if Cupid had struck an arrow into his heart whenever she snorted. He wanted to love her, oh how he wanted to love her, but he knew that he couldn't. Not with the life he's living, all the sins he's committed, he didn't want to risk corrupting her as well. A hand was suddenly waving in front of his face and Joker didn't realize how deeply he had been thinking as he stared into the concerned jade eyes of the woman the hand belonged to.

"You alright Joker?"

He shook his head to banish his previous thoughts before putting on his usual cheerful smile. He hoped that he wouldn't make a habit of getting lost in his thoughts like this.

"Sorry, I was just thinkin' 'bout tonight's performance." He continued to apply her makeup on the other side of her face as he spoke.

"There's a performance tonight?"

"Certainly! We're only in town for another two nights, so we best make the most of it while we're 'ere. Close yer eyes please." He set the grease paint down and reached for a small pot containing the pressed purple powder that he uses to line his own eyes.

"Now I feel bad for taking your time to have me audition when you could have spent it practicing."

He chuckled as he began to apply the powder with a smaller brush, following along the contours of her eye carefully.

"Nonsense. We 'ave plenty o' time to prepare. I still need to give 'ee a tour 'round the place, then spend whatever time after that practicin' 'til it's time for the show, and lastly I'll give 'ee yer tent assignment. Open yer eyes now and look up."

Just as he suspected, her lovely eyes brightly stood out against the purple shadow. Her eye twitched as he began to place the shadow along her waterline and under her lashline.

"You have to do go through this every day? It seems exhausting."

"Well I gotta look me very best in front o' a 'uge crowd o' people. Trust me, when the circus was just beginnin' I 'ated putting on all this makeup. Now I rarely go out an' about without it, it's become a part of me really."

He set the brush down and leaned back to examine his handiwork. He picked up a cloth and began to rub away the excess powder from her cheeks but ended up accidentally messing up one of the dots he had drawn on her face. Joker glared at the smudge and grumbled to himself as he wiped the disobedient dot away and replaced it with one that would behave properly. He gave her face another look over before he grinned to himself.

"Not too bad if I do say so meself!" He pulled her up from her seat on the stool and stood her in front of a mirror so that she could see the entire look.

He bounced eagerly on his heels and glanced between Gypsy's reflection and Gypsy herself as she took in her new look. She looked surprised at first, but as she adjusted to the look she seemed pleased.

"Do 'ee like it then?" His voice betrayed him by making him sound hopeful. She beamed up at him.

"Yes, I really like the look Joker. Thank you for helping me!"

"Well it's wha' I do; I always 'elp new comers pick out their clothes and design their stage makeup. Now then," he crossed back over to the tent flap they had entered a while ago, "let's introduce 'ee to the rest o' the troupe, eh?"

Joker stood on a stool at the front of the tent with the newest addition to the troupe standing on the ground beside him, beaming at the faces of the entire circus staff despite the hot and stuffy air caused by the huge number of people being crammed into a tent in the summer. The fact that they were breathing and generally chatting amongst themselves didn't help to cool them all either. He had retrieved his black cane with a checkered design and a faux diamond on the handle some time ago, waving it in the air to get everyone's attention.

"Everyone!" The crowd simmered down into silence, curiously staring at the two figures at the front of the room. "I've got an exciting announcement to make. I wanna introduce ye all to the newest member of our circus, Gypsy!" He turned to the Romani woman and held his arm out to her. "Come, come! Say hello everyone!"

A chorus of tired sounding "hello" rang through the tent, Joker frowned at the lack of enthusiasm but dismissed it as he assumed everyone was grouchy because of the heat. He looked to Gypsy and hopped of his stool, extending his hand out to her so that he could help her step onto it in his place. She smiled charmingly and held her hands behind her back.

"Pleased to meet you all."

"Now then, s'ppose I oughtta give 'ee a tour 'round the place so 'ee don't get lost. If 'ee would follow me, please." The two then exited out of the caravan and Joker held out his arm towards the orange tents behind them. "Since we're already near 'em, we'll start with the tents for the second-tier members," he led her over to one of the tents and opened the flap to reveal a relatively messy room with a bunk bed on one side and two storage trunks on the other. "Each tent can hold 'bout two or three people comfortably, don't wanna cram 'em into tents."

Gypsy gave him a puzzled look.

"What are second-tier members?"

Joker closed the tent flap and turned to her.

"Those are the folks who help with backstage set-up and preparations during shows, we certainly ain't magic. The first-tier members get to perform, so 'ee best prepare work hard an' practice if 'ee wanna perform for a crowd."

She nodded as they began walking.

"And I'm assuming the first-tier members are everybody I met earlier today?"

Joker grinned and nodded.

"Aye! Dagger is our knife thrower, Doll is our tightrope walker, Beast is our animal tamer, Jumbo is our fire-eater, and Peter n' Wendy are our trapeze artists."

"But do I really need a tent if I have my caravan to live in?" she asked with a teasing laugh.

Joker smirked at her.

"Of course 'ee do! Ye're one of us now, so that means ye're expected to live in a tent like us! But 'ee can be in yer caravan before shows to help entertain guests and read fortunes. 'ee will be gettin' yer tent assignment after the show t'night."

Gypsy laughed and nodded as they approached lavender-colored tents.

"These are the first-tier member tents?"

Doll emerged from one tent, dressed up in a pure white dress with a short and poofy skirt, wearing mismatching knee-high socks and white ballet slippers. In her hands, she held a hat that had large faux white roses curving down to cover the left side of her face when she wore it. Her face held no trace of freckles, a swirling floral design extended across her left cheek, and she wore white false lashes. Overall, she looked as stunning as ever. She noticed the pair and quickly approached them with a smile so bright it could be seen from a kilometer away.

"Gypsy! Joker! Did she make it? Is she part of the circus now?"

Joker reached out with his prosthetic hand and flicked her forehead.

"Why else would I be giving her a tour 'round the place?"

Doll threw her arms around Gypsy, letting out a happy squeal as she did so.

"See? I knew you would make it in! An' bloody 'ell, you look fantastic!"

Gypsy laughed and patted the girl's back. Doll beamed at the woman as they pulled back into an embrace, Joker rose a curious brow and placed a hand on his hip.

"Oi, why are 'ee already in yer performance attire? We ain't performin' for another few hours."

Doll chuckled and rubbed the back of her neck.

"I know, but I need Wendy and Beast to help fix up my costume and I don't know how long that's doing to take. It's got a big tear in it, see?"

She held up her skirt that had a rather large tear reaching from the bottom of her skirt to halfway up. Joker frowned as he examined the damage, kneeling and taking the skirt in his hand.

"'ow do 'ee always manage to tear yer costume before a show? If 'ee keep this up it's gonna turn into rags."

Doll puffed out her cheeks indignantly.

"At least this time I'm takin' it to them before the show rather than right before I need to go on stage."

Joker sighed.

"True, true. If I'd known 'ee would be so rough with yer costume I would've given 'ee a different stage name."

"That's what I told you, but no!" Doll whined. "Gave me a girly nickname sayin' that I'm your 'precious little sister'."

Doll pouted, Joker laughed and tousled her hair.

"That 'ee are, dear one. Off with ye now, get yer costume stitched up 'ee silly goose."

Doll waved at the two of them before trotting into one of the other lavender tents. Gypsy watched the exchange with a smile plastered across her face.

"You and the other first-tier members are very close."

He nodded.

"We're like a family, us first-tier members. As I've told 'ee, we all grew up on the streets together, dependin' on one another to survive. It was hard for us, 'specially since we're missin' limbs or have a sort o' deformity," he waved his prosthetic hand. He grew a bit melancholy as he thought of the painful memories of living in the gutters of the East End, but then he smiled brightly. "But everythin's fine now, as 'ee can see. And speakin' o' missin' limbs, lemme show 'ee where the medical tent is," he motioned for her to continue following him to a large green tent. "If ye're ever feelin' ill or if 'ee injured yerself, just come right 'ere. Doc's one o' the finest doctors in England and he'll fix 'ee up in a jiffy. He also makes the prosthetics for those of us without limbs all by 'imself."

He held the flap open for her and once again followed her into the tent. Typically, more second-tier members would be here during the summer due to overheating or dehydration since they would overexert themselves for a spot as a first-tier member. The tent was a nice and cool get away from the blistering heat of the summer. A man in a wheel chair was finishing up wrapping a sprained ankle for someone when Joker and Gypsy approached him, and he looked up at the two with a polite smile.

"Hello Joker, what can I do for you today? Need me to fix your prosthesis again?" he spoke in a manner that was much more formal than Joker's own manner of speech.

Joker laughed a little and shook his head.

"No, no, not yet anyway. I was just givin' a tour to our newest member 'ere, Gypsy, and thought I oughtta introduce 'ee."

Doc looked to the young woman.

"Pleasure to meet you Doc," she stuck her hand out and Doc grasped and shook it.

"Likewise Miss Gypsy," he removed his spectacles and cleaned them off on his shirt, perched them back upon his nose, and shook out his mess of black hair. "What, may I ask, is your specialty then?"

"Fortune telling and contortions," she replied easily.

Doc seemed surprised.

"Contortions? Oh dear, you best come in and see me before you practice so that I may help care for your back. We don't get a lot of contortionists here, but they usually end up straining their backs."

Gypsy smiled and nodded, Joker patted her shoulder.

"We'll 'ave to start watchin' 'ee carefully if we want 'ee to stay in good shape, can't 'ave 'ee injured if 'ee want to be helpful 'round the circus. Anyway," he waved to the doctor, "best carry on with the tour, see 'ee Doc!"

They both ducked out of the tent and Joker tapped his cane against his shoulder as he looked around trying to think of what else he needed to show her.

"Ah, right there's the mess hall," he gestured to a large canopy filled with tables and a tent behind it. "This where the kitchen is, which is where 'ee will spend most of yer time outside of practice. Newcomers prepare the meals, but they get to eat with the first-tier members, who are served first. Then the second-tier members eat and then practice. There are three meals to cook and are divided into three shifts: breakfast before dawn, lunch during midday, and supper an hour or so before the show. Each meal shift takes about three hours to prep, cook, serve, an' clean up. Since ye're a new member ye'll 'ave the pleasure of makin' breakfast, so be prepared to wake up early and work hard."

Gypsy nodded again and Joker paused a bit as she took in her surroundings, then motioned for her to follow him as he walked to the practice tent.

"Moving on then. Down there be the bathing area. It's mostly co-ed, but most ladies bathe in the evenin' while the gents bathe in the afternoon. There's usually a pump that we use to fill up buckets of water and there's bars of soap near the entrance. Lastly's the practice tent, and the name speaks for itself."

They entered the tent that was filled with people training for the coveted title of a first-tier member, practicing anything ranging from juggling, tight-rope walking, trapeze, pole climbing, balancing on balls, and ribbon dancing. The room area smelled of the must that came from the sweaty bodies, but to Joker he felt right at home.

"We 'ave all sorts of equipment for any type of talent stored there in the back," he jutted his cane towards a corner in the back of the tent, finally turning to face her. "Now, I wanna see 'ee practice some of yer contortions. Like Doc said, we ain't got many people who can properly move their bodies in that way, so 'ee best work 'ard if ye want to be a star."

Gypsy nodded and her eyes gleamed with determination.

"I'll try my best."

Joker patted her shoulder and smiled softly.

"I'm sure 'ee will." He reached into the pocket of his trousers and pulled out a pocket watch, humming to himself as he checked the time before slipping it back into his pocket. "It's two thirty-four now, so I've got some time before we need to set up for the performance." He plopped himself onto the ground, but looked up at Gypsy when she didn't do the same and gestured to the space in front of him. "Come, come! I'm sure that 'ee wanna at least stretch a bit before 'ee start movin' 'round so much." The young woman nodded and seated herself in front of him, unsure of how to begin her stretches. Joker laughed and held his arms out so she could hold his hands and splayed his legs out, "'ere silly! Get into this same position and grab me 'ands."

"Oh," Gypsy splayed her legs out as well, though she was much more flexible than him, and held his hands just as he instructed.

Joker then readjusted himself so that their feet touched and felt a nice stretch in his hamstrings. Damn, it's been a while since he's last done this.

"Feel that stretch? 'ee should start to feel it in yer legs," Gypsy nodded. "Right, then I'll start pullin' 'ee forward til 'ee feel stretched out."

He began to lean backward, pulling her with him as he leaned. They let out a small laugh as he kept pulling her towards him, reaching the point where her face was essentially touching his belly.

"Right, now pull me towards yerself."

Gypsy struggled a bit, but eventually pulled Joker towards her. He grunted a bit and once again laughed at how Gypsy practically flopped her back against the dirt ground behind her, causing him to slightly lurch forward.

"Am I doing this right? I'm not getting much of a stretch," Gypsy remarked as she released him and sat back up.

Joker sighed as he sat up as well, he would certainly be sore tomorrow.

"'ee are, the only problem is I ain't as flexible as 'ee! Ye'd probably get a better warm-up with Doll since she's the most limber out of us first-tier folk." He then stood, and after helping Gypsy to her feet he asked, "feel like 'ee could move 'round without hurtin' yerself? We ain't got the luxury of takin' our time to stretch 'ee know."

Gypsy thoughtfully moved her body around, swung her arms to twist her torso with her back slightly popping, before she quickly bent backwards into a bridge position with her hands easily touching the heels of her feet. Joker was surprised by the sudden action and whistled as she straightened out.

"Caught me by surprise with that, 'ee did! Reckon ye'll make a fine addition to the troupe."

She playfully rolled her eyes at him and scoffed.

"Impressed by that, were you? I'm going to knock your socks off when I get to the real contortions then."

Joker grinned, enjoying her feisty playfulness.

"Off 'ee go then, me socks are waitin' to be knocked off."

After giggling Gypsy once again bent backwards, but this time when her hands were pressed against the ground her legs slowly started to raise up and posing with one leg perpendicular to the ground and the other bent at the knee. Joker clapped as she held the position for a moment before she lowered her torso onto the ground, balancing on her shoulders as she curled her legs over herself and folding them so that her shins rested on the ground and her knees were on either side of her head. She held her arms out and remained in that position for a few seconds as Joker once again clapped, Dagger joining him this time.

"Blimey, don't think I've ever seen anyone in a position quite like that before!"

The young woman eventually straightened herself out into an upright standing position and grinned bashfully at the comment.

"You are too kind, Dagger."

Joker waved his hand out to her again.

"Keep the contortions coming, I wanna see what all 'ee can do."

Gypsy nodded, though this time a few other troupe members stopped to watch the new comer. She slowly lifted her leg from the side, grabbing it and looking as though she were guiding it to the opposite side of her head and held it there. Her body started to tilt forward so that her hand pressed against the floor, eventually holding her weight as she slowly went into a one-handed handstand while maintaining a split. Holding that position for a minute, and as everyone clapped she once again straightened herself out into a standing position.

"This is a bit awkward to do without music or props."

Joker nodded, going up to her and patting her back.

"No worries, if 'ee make it into the show we rehearse with music. But what sorts of props do 'ee need?"

Gypsy waved her hand at him.

"I have most of the props I use in my caravan; just a mouth piece, cigar, and a hoop. I'm assuming there must be silks and balls here for me to practice with?"

Joker's eyes lightened up, the props she mentioned sounded like they would make for a bang-up performance.

"That certainly sounds excitin', I'll 'ave to stick around and watch 'ee practice then." He pulled out his pocket watch again and hummed to himself before he stood up on a nearby pedestal and cupped his hands over his mouth. "OI YE LOT! WE OUGHTTA START PREPARING FOR THE SHOW NOW, SO LOOK LIVELY!"

As everyone slowly ended whatever they were practicing he hopped off his pedestal towards Gypsy and the small dispersing crowd and as he drew closer to her he began to rub his hands together.

"What I want 'ee to do now is set up yer caravan near the main performance tent and advertise yer fortune readin' abilities. Ye'll be doin' that 'til about five o'clock, then meet Doll towards the back of the main tent, she'll help 'ee with the backstage 'andlin'. Understand?" Gypsy nodded and Joker grinned and patted her shoulder. "Off with 'ee then. We're goin' to need yer help drawing a big crowd for the show, so 'ee best be quick about setting up."

Her green eyes practically swam with excitement and it made Joker feel giddy.

"You can count on me, Joker!"

Joker grinned at her retreating form, Dagger came up to him and elbowed his side while wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Joker rolled his eyes and nudged the younger man away.

"Off with 'ee now, we got a show to concentrate on."

Dagger laughed obnoxiously.

"Yeah, and maybe you could give Gypsy a 'private performance' afterwards!" this time Peter chimed in on the teasing and Joker let out an annoyed groan.

"Go on an' prepare for the show!"


	4. Chapter 4

*****Hello everyone! I have been swamped with projects (I am an art student and it's the end of the semester) and homework and figuring out how this story should go. Spoiler alert: it ain't gonna be happy, read and find out why mwuahahaha. I'll be trying my best to be more responsible with uploading new chapters every month like I said I would be and generally managing my time better. I also head-cannon Beast as the sort of mother-figure among the troupe; you know, breaking fights amongst members, pestering everyone to eat more and go to bed on time, sprucing everyone up before performances, things that are typically motherly. Enjoy the chapter!*****

 **Chapter Four**

Joker's favorite part of performing in the circus was setting up and watching as the crowd came onto the fairgrounds; the excited faces of small children as they took in the sounds and sights around them, adults appreciating the wide array of things to do that weren't just for children, families and groups of friends laughing amongst themselves at the hustle and bustle around them. He loved it all.

"Joker, it's nearly time," Beast called.

Joker closed the flap of the curtain he was peeking out of and turned to the beast-tamer, allowing her to fix his bowtie and vest. He laughed a little as she went about fixing him up.

"Ye're just like a mother, sprucin' me up the way 'ee are. I fixed meself up before I came here 'ee know."

Beast blushed at the comment and lightly smacked his chest, making him laugh more.

"I'm only makin' sure that everything's perfect and that you look your absolute best."

Joker pretended to be offended and placed his hand over his heart dramatically.

"What're 'ee tryna say?" Beast pouted and he chuckled as he patted her head. "I'm only teasin' 'ee dear, thank 'ee for fixin' me up."

Beast let out a 'hmph' before sharply turning her head away from him to hide her blush.

"I only act like a mother because you ain't no better at dressin' yourself than a toddler."

Joker once again laughed at her comment before he peered over her shoulder, noticing Gypsy peeking through the flap to look at the crowd.

"'ow's she 'oldin' up so far?"

Joker could've sworn that he saw a twinge of anger in Beast's eyes. She took a glance over her shoulder as well and frowned deeply.

"I dunno, it ain't my job to keep an eye on her"

Joker slightly frowned at Beast's comment, but watched as Doll approached Gypsy and began talking, leading her off toward the back to probably show her the ropes of backstage handling. Everyone was talking loudly and some people were shouting over each other, namely the other first-tier folk shouting orders.

"Oi! Where's my hat?" Peter shouted. He was always the most boisterous and the biggest pain-in-the-ass to deal with before shows.

"Right here, dummy!" Wendy yelled back as she tossed his hat at him, how she was able to deal with him Joker would never understand.

Joker checked the time once more, he nodded before he cupped his hands over his mouth so that everyone could hear him.

"Five minutes before show time! Hurry up an' get yer props together!"

Everyone began to move a little faster and seemed a little more panicked as they searched for any last-minute things they needed.

"Oi, Gypsy. You wanna volunteer for to be part of my knife-throwin' show?"

Joker made his way over to Gypsy and Dagger as their conversation started, she had just lifted one of the heavier boxes. She looked at the young knife thrower curiously.

"What would I have to do?"

Dagger took out one of his knives, grinning mischievously as it gleamed in the lamplight.

"We'll have you strapped to a board spread-eagle and spin you 'round while I throw my knives at you." He then laughed at the young woman's nervous reaction, "no need to worry. I've been doing this for years and I ain't ever hit anybody on accident." She pressed her lips together thoughtfully before Dagger looked at Joker and winked, "I'm sure Joker would be willing to take you out on a date if you did it."

Before either one of them could protest Beast stepped in.

"That's enough, we ain't got time to dilly-dally right before a performance, especially with a newcomer who still needs to learn 'ow runnin' this show works." She eyed Gypsy to make sure she understood her point before turning on her heel and walking away.

Doll had hurried up to the three of them and tugged on Gypsy's arm.

"C'mon, we need you backstage!"

As she was dragged away Gypsy looked over her shoulder and called back to Dagger.

"I'll try to make it as a volunteer for your performance!"

Dagger grinned and waved at the girls' retreating forms as they hurried off. As he turned to Joker he felt an immediate sense of dread caused by the glare his senior was giving him; if looks could kill, Dagger would be a pile of ribbons from the look in Joker's eyes. Joker let out a sigh before his signature smile tugged at his lips.

"Do yer best, Dagger. Have a good show."

As the lights in the auditorium dimmed Joker bent through the flap of the tent and made his way to the center of the stage, careful not to trip over anything in the dark. Once he had made it to his position the lights illuminated his lone figure, his heart racing excitedly and his body bubbling up with energy as it always does whenever he performs. He extended his arms out, his left hand holding out his cane.

"Ladies an' gentlemen, boys an' girls of all ages!" His voice boomed and echoed dramatically throughout the auditorium filled with eager faces. "On this fine summer's evenin' we welcome you to the Noah's Ark Circus!" He then pulled out an array of colorful juggling balls from an inner pocket of his coat and began to juggle for the crowd as he spoke. "Me name is Joker, this evenin's ringleader. Pleased to meet all of 'ee!" He then tossed all the balls into the air, spun around, and held his arms to bow as he allowed the small objects to bounce off himself. The audience laughed, causing Joker to grin before he continued to speak. "Tonight ye're sure to see performances that'll stun an' amaze 'ee, an' leave 'ee breathless." As he spoke he could hear the footsteps of the other first-tier members scurrying up behind him before their silhouettes were illuminated behind him. Joker held his arms out, "an' now, with a fantastic feat from our very own fire-breathin' Jumbo, the show of the century begins!"

He barely had time to glance back at Jumbo before the huge man came up from behind him with a loud yell, which gave Joker and the others enough time to yelp and scamper off stage comically. He slipped backstage and watched Jumbo perform his fire-eating tricks while listening to the quiet chaos behind him.

"Go go go! Onto the stage with you two!" Beast whisper-shouted to Peter and Wendy, who were performing their trapeze next.

"Gypsy! We need you to help carry these boxes!" Someone shouted.

"Coming! Coming!"

"Gypsy! If you want to make it in time to be a volunteer for my performance, come back over here during Peter and Wendy's performance!"

She waved back at Dagger as she hurried off to go help. Peter and Wendy's performance was successfully set up just after Jumbo finished his performance. Joker came back on stage, clapping along with the audience as he walked back to center stage with a light shining down on him, ugh, that light is hot.

"Now to introduce 'ee to our two talented trapeze artists!"

He held his arm upward, where more lights shown down to illuminate the two as they swung up high above himself. Wendy had released herself from her own trapeze and somersaulted through the air. The audience was silent and held their breath as the small girl flew in the air, but erupted into cheers and applause as Peter caught her easily, making Joker grin.

"Peter an' Wendy!"

Once again Joker made his way backstage, where he would wait about ten minutes as the two performed before introducing Dagger as the next act.

"How're you holding up?"

Joker looked over his shoulder at Gypsy as she and the other backstage crew members scurried around carrying boxes. She looking at him as she waited for his response. He grinned broadly, he always enjoyed performance nights.

"Pretty well I would say. An' what about 'ee? 'ee ain't 'avin' too hard of a time I trust?"

She flicked her hair out of her face as she scooped up a particularly large box which pleased Joker to see that she was working so hard already.

"I'm enjoying all this work. I've been living by myself for about five years, so this new environment is refreshing and exciting."

Joker smiled as she hurried off to carry the box to some other area on the other side of the back stage, but she returned a few moments later though she was out of breath from running back to him.

"Where should I meet Dagger?"

"Over 'ere!" The bleach-haired young man called to her.

She trotted up to him and bounced on her heels to rid herself of her nervous energy. Joker found it adorable.

"What do you need me to do?"

Dagger laughed at her eagerness and held an arm out to the wheel with straps attached to it.

"Just stand in front of that wheel and me assistants will help you on."

Gypsy did as she was told; standing in front of the wheel and holding her arms out with her legs in a proper stance as a couple of young ladies strapped her on. Joker stood next to Dagger and watched with an amused grin.

"I'll 'ave to make sure ye're all strapped in proper, so I need to spin the wheel," Joker had already approached Gypsy and had gripped one of the handles to spin her. He looked at her to make sure she was ready and laughed at the determined expression on her face as she stared forward. "'ee ready?"

She nodded curtly and Joker gave the wheel a hard tug. Gypsy was a giggling mess, which made him laugh as well.

"Hope you're having fun, she needs to be on in a minute," Beast snapped at the laughing lot.

Joker waved Beast off and grabbed the handle to stop Gypsy from spinning. He laughed as she swayed from dizziness in her place and held her face in between his hands to help steady her focus. He waited for her jade eyes to focus into his, then offered a smile.

"Feel good enough to perform?"

Gypsy shook her head to help clear the dizziness away.

"Yes! I want to do it again!"

Joker's smile only grew at Gypsy's childishness. He thought it was interesting that such a mysterious young woman was also so light-hearted.

"Right, wheel her onto the stage then." He watched as the two assistants pushed her past the curtains, but curiously looked to Dagger as he threw an arm over his senior's shoulders. "Any particular reason why 'ee decided on Gypsy rather than an audience member like 'ee usually do?"

Dagger grinned and shrugged.

"I thought that we oughtta expose her to performin' for a crowd, you know?"

Joker nodded before walking up to the flap that separated the backstage from the main stage, holding it open for the next performer. He ducked out after Dagger just at the end of Peter and Wendy's performance, hurrying to his next spot before the light illuminated him.

"Give it up for our trapeze artists everyone!" He applauded along with the audience as the two bowed before the lights shining on them shut off and then shown on Dagger. "Our next performer is a young man with a keen eye and never misses his target!"

He stepped back and watched as Gypsy blinked under the harshness of the lights, not even given a moment to readjust to the light before she was spun. Joker was momentarily worried that she would get sick once he saw nervousness wash over her face, but she made eye contact with him and held his gaze for a while as she spun. Joker gave her an encouraging smile and a thumbs-up. She seemed more confident and smiled back, focusing her attention instead on Dagger. Dagger pulled out one of his knives, kissing the blade before he set up to throw it- it was a bit of a good-luck charm for him. His eyes narrowed as he carefully aimed at the target with the blade held between his gloved fingers and aiming with the handle. The audience was dead silent and tensed as Dagger drew his arm back, they made a bit of noise as Dagger threw the knife at the wooden board with a quiet grunt, and cheered as it hit the board but missed Gypsy who was eying the closeness of the blade to her face in shock and awe. Joker waited until Dagger had thrown all of his knives completely around Gypsy before he walked up to the younger man, took his arm in his own hand, and held it up above the two.

"Dagger, ladies and gentlemen!"

The bleach-haired young man winked at the crowd and smiled as he waved. Joker put their arms down and looked to Gypsy as she was strapped off, and though she stumbled a bit from the dizziness and even bumped into him, she was looking curiously at how the knives seems to form an outline around her when she was on it and she eagerly clapped along with the audience. Joker then walked up to Gypsy and, once again, held her hand in his own and held them above their heads. He justified himself by telling himself that he should hold onto her for a bit so she can regain her balance as well as introduce her to the crowd just as Dagger had suggested.

"Let's also hear it for our newest troupe member, Gypsy, for bein' such a good sport and volunteerin'!"

Within his peripheral vision he watched as Gypsy shyly waved to the crowd, even bowing a little, with a relieved grin on her face. Before she went off her smile faced Joker, who patted her back. He leaned forward so she could hear him over the audience.

"'ee did very well out there."

She could only beam up at him before helping to push the wheel off the stage, continuing to stumble a bit and causing the audience to laugh. Joker felt unusually giddy and energetic after the encounter.

"For the next performance, if ye'd would look above 'ee ladies and gents! 'ee will see the death-defying walk across the tightrope by our lovely circus princess Doll!"

As the light dimmed from him he headed towards the backstage once again to watch Doll easily perform her tightrope act. But he slipped behind the curtain to check how Gypsy had been holding up. She was doubled over onto her knees with Dagger and the assistants bending down near her while laughing.

"You did mighty well out there, a real crowd-pleaser you were!" Dagger comforted her while patting her back.

"Aye, I would say that if 'ee don't make it as a first-tier member 'ee could take the permanent position of bein' Dagger's assistant for shows."

Gypsy didn't look at Joker but she still laughed.

"She's having a harder time adjusting to the stillness than most of us are," one of the assistants commented as she rubbed at Gypsy's back.

"You didn't say anything about being strapped on the wheel for ten minutes," Gypsy grumbled.

Joker laughed apologetically, kneeling in front of her so she would be able to look at him.

"Sorry about that, probably should've mentioned that before 'ee went on. But 'ee did better than most of Dagger's other first-time spinners, we've 'ad a few of 'em blow chunks once they made it backstage."

He and Dagger laughed at the memory, and Gypsy seemed relax at his reassurance.

"Thanks, I think?"

Joker helped her to stand up and gently pushed her towards the other members of the backstage crew.

"Go on now," he spoke softly, "'ee can take it easy back 'ere for the rest of the show if need be."

She nodded her thanks before she went to help. Joker turned to Dagger, who was grinning at him slyly. He let out an annoyed sigh.

"Don't."

"I ain't ever seen you go easy on someone like that before," Dagger kept grinning, and Joker kept getting annoyed.

"'ow many bloody times do I 'ave to tell 'ee? I ain't got feelings for 'er, it's only been a day."

"So you MIGHT develop feelings for her some day?" Dagger poked at Joker's cheek playfully, he always did enjoy teasing his elder.

Joker just swatted the hand away before returning onto the main stage just as Doll was starting to finish up, he could see Beast setting up her act in the shadows. He could only pray that everything would go well during this performance since it WAS the most dangerous. He didn't doubt Beast's skills, she was the best of the best animal tamers after all, he just didn't want her to get hurt. He cared for all his circus members and wished for all their performances to go well, but animals could be unpredictable. The audience clapped as Doll finished her acrobatic feat and made it to the other end of the platform.

"Please give a big hand for Doll, let her know 'ow entertained 'ee were!"

The audience typically went crazy for Beast and Doll's acts since they were the most dangerous. He momentarily wondered how the audience would react to Gypsy's contortions, would they have enough time to squeeze in another act?

"Last but certainly not least I introduce 'ee to the brightest star of our troupe. I bring 'ee the famous tamer of wild cats…"

He watched as Beast instructed Betty to leap through hoops that were set on fire and various other tricks. Beast never used her whip on Betty unless she was causing harm, is was all mostly for show. After performing her tricks Betty finally rested at Beast's feet so that she would be able to put her foot up and pose.

"Beast!" Joker's voice boomed excitedly throughout the ring and everyone erupted into massive applause

Joker glanced over his shoulder to see Dagger, Doll, and Gypsy peeking out to watch for their cue to come out for the encore. Jumbo, Peter, and Wendy all pushed out the other two first-tier members and they began to make their way out. Once they were all positioned into a line behind him Joker held his arms out as the lights illuminated all of them.

"Ladies and gentlemen! The Noah's Arc Circus thanks 'ee for taking the time out of yer busy schedules to come watch us perform. Please let us know how entertained 'ee were by applaudin'! Put yer 'ands together for Jumbo!" He paused after saying each member's name to allow the audience some time to clap and cheer and for the member to bow before the crowd. "Peter n' Wendy! Dagger! Doll! And Beast!"

The thunderous applause was almost deafening upon his ears, and he loved the rush he got from performing in front of crowds like this; the circus troupe was especially packed during the warmer seasons. He could never get tired of performing, it was especially lax after Father had stopped coming to the performances. The circus and the crowd seemed to be Joker's only escape and distraction from the world around him and all the atrocities he's committed.

"Thank 'ee for comin' everyone, 'ope 'ee enjoyed the show. Safe travels to 'ee all, and good night!"


	5. Chapter 5

**!WARNING!**

 **!This chapter contains some disturbing content: mentions of murder, mentions of child/ongoing abuse, death, child kidnapping, and mentions of past rape. This is one of the reasons why this story is rated mature and really helps set the mood for the general story: While the story will be have light-hearted, funny, romantic, and endearing moments it will pretty much reflect the Circus Ark and will have heart-wrenching angst and drama. It's sorta like Yin and Yang- you can't have the good without the bad, in my opinion. This is also gonna be a long chapter purely because of exposition and general character backgrounds!**

 **Chapter Five**

"Good show everyone! Very well done!"

Joker grinned broadly as everyone started to put away everything after their previous performance, taking a deep breath through his nose and exhaling through his mouth as he placed his hands on his hips. He stretched his arms over his head, letting out a satisfied sigh as his bones popped and cracked. He turned and noticed Gypsy hurrying up to him, he then remembered that he told her that he would be assigning tent partners for her.

"Oi, Doll!" The girl turned her head as she was called, "go and grab yer tent mate, 'ee need to be introduced to Gypsy.

Doll practically beamed and bounced off to her shared tent to grab the young man she shared with, a snake-man they creatively nicknamed Snake. The troupe had found Snake a few months back while they were on their way to find a new revenue for their circus. Somehow Doll had managed to stumble upon the poor young man, trapped in a cage and treated like an animal. They couldn't just leave him there, so Joker offered him a position as a circus member and did their best to treat him like family. Snake was generally very shy and only seemed to talk to his pet snakes, which was immensely annoying for Joker since he was so extraverted. Snake wasn't allowed to let his snakes loose if he wasn't around them as a safety precaution. Joker was glad that the troupe was able to finally free someone from a cage rather than put someone in.

"Did you still want to talk to me about tent assignments?"

Joker blinked himself out of his thoughts and saw Gypsy standing in front of him. Looking just past her he saw that Doll, who had changed from her performance attire to her casual clothes, was dragging Snake along and smiled.

"Aye, an' 'ere come yer tent mates. 'ee already know Doll and the other one's Snake, he's been 'ere a few months longer than yerself."

Gypsy looked to Doll and gave her a puzzled look.

"But I thought that first-tier members get their own tents, why would you want to share one?"

Doll laughed and scratched her cheek.

"I ain't too fond o' sleepin' by meself. I always sleep better with someone in the room, you know?"

Joker stood next to Doll while a fond memory suddenly came to mind.

"Aye. I remember back when we were first taken in 'ee always wanted to sleep in the same bed as me since no one else could put up with 'ee." Joker stuck his thumb out at her as he spoke to Gypsy, "none of the other troupe embers could stand sleepin' with her, kicks like a mule this one does."

Gypsy laughed as Doll pouted and Joker noticed Snake smiling at the story but shifting his weight between his feet as he stood there nervously. Joker gestured to the snake-man.

"An' fine young man is Snake, he's our snake-charmer. He will be yer second tent mate since we ain't got no co-ed rules 'ere."

Gypsy smiled warmly at the pale young man and held her hand out as a greeting.

"Pleased to meet you Snake, my name's Gypsy."

Snake looked at Joker nervously, he responded with an encouraging smile and a nod. Snake shook her hand. The two snakes that rested upon his shoulders slithered along his arms and made their usual hissing noises at her.

"..."The pleasure is all mine." ...that's what Emily says anyway." Snake quietly responded.

Gypsy seemed unfazed by the snakes, in fact she curiously peered at them without getting too close to them. Snake quickly pulled his hand back with the same quickness as accidentally touching a hot stove. Joker and Doll carefully watched the encounter.

"You're a snake-charmer? You must be really good with handling your snakes since they haven't bitten you so far."

Snake's snakes hissed again.

"..."What do you take him for, some kind of knave? He has been handling us snakes his whole life!"...says Wadsworth."

Joker had to admit that it was entertaining to listen to Snake interpret what his snakes said, using different voices for the different snakes. Gypsy's eyes seemed to be completely awestruck and Snake looked a little uncomfortable.

"Your whole life? Really? That's incredible! And you understand what they're saying?"

More hissing.

"..."Oh yes, he's had a knack for it ever since he was little. He's one of us, you know."...says Emily."

Joker hoped that Gypsy wouldn't find Snake odd and ask for a new tent to be assigned to, but was relieved when he saw how calmly she smiled as she observed Snake's features.

"That's quite interesting. I would love to read your fortune one day, that's my specialty here at the circus." She seemed to be looking at his snakes curiously.

"..."Don't you know that it's rude to stare like that?"...says Wadsworth."

Gypsy only laughed apologetically and held her hand up.

"My apologies, Mr. Wadsworth. Tell me Snake, do you have any place to keep your snakes? I've got my caravan that you can use when I don't need it."

Snake seemed to perk up at her suggestion, making Joker smile.

"..."You would really do that? That's incredibly kind of you."...yes, I suppose it is nice of her, Emily."

Doll giggled at their interaction and Joker clapped his hands to get their attention.

"Alright, enough squawking, 'ee birds. Off to bed with ye lot. Doll, be sure to show Gypsy the ropes of the morning routine tomorrow."

Doll nodded eagerly before grabbing Gypsy's and Snake's arms and dragging them to their shared tent.

"Right boss! C'mon you two, you 'eard 'im! Gotta get some shut eye if we wanna 'ave the energy to wake up bright 'n early!"

Joker chuckled and shook his head at the girl, always so energetic she is. Figuring that he should go to bed as well he made his way to his own tent to find Beast standing next to it with a dreaded piece of parchment held between her fingers. The two were silent, not even bothering to make eye contact as she passed him the letter and walked off. He slipped into his tent, letting out a worn-out sigh as he lit one of his lamps. Picking up his letter opener that sat on his desk he carefully broke the wax seal that was marked with the Coat of Arms of his Father. A sickening feeling washed over him as he set the letter-opener down and pulled out the letter, the feeling only growing more intense as he read the contents. Letting out another sigh he figured that he would tell the others of this letter tomorrow in the morning at breakfast and discuss what to do. He tugged his clothes off and tossed them into a corner of the tent in a pile of other dirty shirts, he should probably wash his clothes tomorrow as well. As he changed into his bed clothes he removed his prosthetic arm, which was his least favorite part of his morning and nightly routines since it hurt so much to attach and detach it. He slipped himself under the covers, leaning over to make sure the lamp was out before he could get some shut eye.

Though he smiled to himself as he thought of the newest member of the troupe, Joker found himself having yet another dreamless night.

**************************************************************************************************************************************************  
The next morning Joker awoke without feeling refreshed as people would normally wake up, in fact he felt more exhausted when he woke up than he did when he fell asleep. He forced himself to get out of bed regardless so he could meet with the other first-tier members and discuss Father's letter. He felt empty as he simply went through the motions of his morning routine: re-attaching his prosthesis, fixing his hair, changing out of his bedclothes and into his typical performance outfit, putting on his makeup, all the while humming Tom the Piper's Son to help himself wake up.

As he applied his makeup he stared into the mirror and made the mistake of looking at his own reflection. He remembered back when he was younger how thin himself and the other troupe members used to be. He never really had the chance to completely look at himself until he and the rest of the troupe were taken in by Father- the image of seeing himself being so incredibly thin and almost skeleton-like still haunts him today and he vowed to himself that he would never let himself or the others live like that again. Now he had gained a healthy amount of weight, he grew a bit taller, and he was still protecting his family; he just wished that he didn't have to do such awful things for Father in order to survive. That man... Joker shook his head; he didn't have the time to dawdle when the other were waiting for him. He finished getting dressed by tying his bow tie on before stepping out of his tent and making his way to the mess hall.

Once he opened the tent to the hall he saw the rest of the first-tier members sitting around one of the tables. Peter had his head resting against the table as he lightly snoozed, Wendy sat next to him with her chin resting in her hand and nodding off, Dagger sat across from them and ate his breakfast groggily, Beast seemed to be glaring into her mug of coffee, and Jumbo was alert as ever. Joker decided to be mean to them since they all seemed so tired still.

"Good~ morning ev'ryone! Nice to see all of 'ee so bright eyed and bushy tailed this early!"

He held back a snicker as everyone but Jumbo shot him an annoyed glare as he took his seat on the end next to Dagger.

"Fuck off, 'm too damn tired for your shit," Peter grumbled as he sat up and rested his face in his palms.

Dagger glared at Peter and threw a spoonful of oatmeal, Peter was about to get up before he was stopped by Jumbo.

"Now, now. No need to start a fight so early."

Joker looked to the owner of the voice and smiled once he realized Gypsy had arrived and now stood behind him. She smiled back at Joker and dropped off a plate of toast as well as a mug of coffee- she must've been told that he doesn't eat that much in the mornings.

"Thank 'ee love," Joker said absentmindedly, he was used to having Doll bring him his food before they started their usual meetings. Upon realizing who he was talking to he laughed a little when he saw a light blush on Gypsy and Beast's faces. "Sorry, it's still a bit early," he took a sip of his coffee to wake himself up a bit more. Gypsy began to walk away before Joker gently touched her arm. "Would 'ee mind tellin' Doll to come out 'ere please? We need to discuss somethin' 'bout the show."

Gypsy nodded before she disappeared behind a flap that lead into the kitchen, where Doll came from a few minutes later. She practically skipped up to the table and plopped herself down next to Jumbo.

"Mornin' all!" she said cheerily and was met with mumbled replies.

Joker took another swig of his coffee before he began speaking in his normal accent, different from his 'performer' voice.

"Now that ev'ryone's 'ere, I got some unfortunate news." Everyone frowned and looked down as Joker pulled out the letter he had received from Father the previous night.

"Again?" Doll was the most distraught, being a child herself she hated having to kidnap stranger's children.

Joker nodded solemnly.

"'fraid so. He's been getting' worse 'n worse with that little obsession of 'is, I think. These letters 'ave gotten more frequent as time goes by." He looked at the other members, waiting until he made eye contact with all of them before he continued. "Do we 'ave any new information 'bout that Phantomhive boy?"

Everyone shook their heads causing Joker to frown and run a hand through his hair. Father had been wanting to see Joker less and less now and wanting more and more children to...'entertain him'. It sickened Joker to call it that and to drag all these kids to hell with him, but he and the troupe were far too deep to turn back now; if only Beast could understand that. If they left Father now he would rat them out to the police, or worse- he would throw out all those little ones he had promised to look after should Joker ever disobey him. 'An eye-for-an-eye', Father called this policy: they would kidnap the children of nobles and in exchange Father would keep supporting the circus and would keep the other children he found on the streets safe at the Renbourn Workhouse. Joker couldn't risk disobeying Father; it wouldn't be fair to the children. Coming back to the present situation he sharply inhaled through his nose and closed his eyes as he thought.

"Who does he want this time?" Peter asked gruffly as he stuffed a spoonful of oatmeal into his mouth.

Joker looked at the photo that came with the letter as he bit into his piece of toast.

"Some nobleman's daughter, her name is Dianna Berry an' it looks like she's 'bout eleven years old..."

Everyone cringed and shuddered as Joker read the young girl's age aloud. Doll looked as though she would burst into tears at any moment and there was no way any one of them would be able to comfort her when they were all feeling the exact same way. It was heart breaking and exhausting, like a burden that weighed too heavily on their shoulders; and Joker had put it all on himself to take the brunt of it all. He was the one who would deliver messages to Father, who would take the verbal and even physical abuse, who was too broken of a man to care about what happened to him as long as the others were safe. Even before Father took the lot in, he had been the protector of the group: taking the beatings if they got caught stealing bread, sucking up his pride to beg for money, food, or medicine, making sure that everyone had food even if that meant he would have none for himself. Joker couldn't let others suffer if he could prevent it- and that sort of living is what got him into this mess after all, and the first-tier members were more grateful to Joker than they ever could be to Father for that.

"When do you want us to do it?" Jumbo asked calmly as he rubbed circles into Doll's back to calm her down.

Everyone's eyes rested on their leader as they waited for his response. Joker had to consider what time they would all be able to spare, where exactly this young girl lived, how many witnesses there could be, and how long the whole ordeal would take without being caught. These missions were especially difficult during the summer since they would stay in town for a whole week rather than just a weekend like they would during the other seasons.

"We'll do it in two nights," he decided. "That's the only time I can think of sparing to pull this off."

Joker frowned as the members all stared down into either their drinks or at their hands. Doll sniffled pathetically. Joker finally gave them all a small smile.

"Let's not think 'bout that too much, aye?" He spoke softly and comfortingly. "Remember we've got a show tonight, so try to distract yerselves." The group all voiced their agreement as he hurried to finish his breakfast. "Right then!" He now spoke with his usual cheery 'performer' voice as he stood up and collected his now empty plate and mug. "Come on slow pokes, the other folks need to eat too so we've got a short window if we want to practice by ourselves."

More grumbling erupted from the first-tier members as Joker walked to the kitchen to put his dishes away, though he nearly bumped into Gypsy as she carried a huge tray of bacon on a cloth to serve to the other troupe members.

"Oh, my apologies Gypsy I ain't seen 'ee there!" He held the opening of the tent for her to get through, and she smiled at him appreciatively as she hurried past him. "Nice to see that ye're wide awake an' workin' 'ard, 'ee sleep well?"

Gypsy set the heavy tray on one of the tables meant to be the serving area and wiped her hands on the cloth she was using to carry the hot tray with. She wasn't wearing her usual performance attire and was instead wearing a ruffled white blouse, a green vest, a red and black vertically stripped skirt, her ballet slippers (Joker assumed it was because those were easier to put on than boots), and a black bandana holding her hair back.

"I'm used to waking up this early no matter the amount of sleep I get," she seemed to peer over Joker's shoulder and gave a teasing smile to whoever she was directing her attention to. "Snake says that he gets cold at night, so Doll and I debunked our beds, rearranged the room, and now we all sleep together with Snake snug between myself and Doll with all our beds in a row."

Joker turned to see a blushing Snake carrying a pot of oatmeal while his snakes coiled around his arms and shoulders, and Joker whistled in response to Gypsy.

"Sleepin' between to pretty gals, are 'ee Snake? Careful, I wouldn't want to find out about any funny business goin' on between 'ee three."

Snake's face turned from light pink to bright red at Joker's teasing and he scrambled back into the kitchen in a flustered mess. Gypsy rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"If there's anyone out of the three of us doing funny business it's that one," she jerked her thumb at Doll, who straightened at Gypsy's accusation, from over her shoulder. "Little Miss Doll here had a bit of trouble keeping her hands to herself and is the reason why there has to be a pillow between herself and poor Snake."

Gypsy and Joker both looked over at Doll, who had been stuffing her face before she was called out and nearly choked at what Gypsy had told Joker, who gave Doll a 'look' that made her fidget.

"Oh really?" Joker drawled out as he and Gypsy made their way to Doll. "What's this problem I hear that ye've been 'avin' with that Snake fellow?"

Doll shot a glare to Gypsy before swallowing her food so she could talk.

"I was just askin' what it's like for 'im to be part snake an' if he did all the stuff snakes could."

"And then what did you do?" Gypsy asked in a sing-song voice.

Doll stared into her lap guiltily and twiddled her thumbs like she usually did when she was caught doing something she wasn't supposed to.

"I asked 'im if I could feel 'is scales."

"And then what?"

Doll whined before continuing, she was just like a toddler.

"He said 'no', but I did it anyways."

Joker pressed his lips together in a harsh line as he glowered down at the younger girl whose head seemed to bow under the intensity of his gaze.

"So now what do you have to do?"

Doll seemed to shrink.

"I gotta take care of his snakes for him for a week."

"Annddd?"

"And I can't sleep next to 'im no more."

In all honesty Joker wanted to laugh at how good Gypsy could discipline Doll, but he needed to be firm as well. He leaned forward and grasped her nose between the forefinger and middle finger of his gloved left hand while giving her an unamused "no nonsense" look.

"'ow many times 'ave I told 'ee to keep yer nose outta people's personal lives? I only 'ope ye've apologized to Snake for 'ow uncomfortable 'ee probably made 'im feel."

Doll whined, which sounded nasally from being held between Joker's fingers, and flailed her arms. Joker heard Gypsy let out an amused chuckle from behind him and he had to bite back a laugh at the noise Doll made.

"I already apologized for it! Snake accepted my apology an' we went to bed after!"

Joker nodded and released her nose.

"Good, now go 'elp 'im with the dishes and apologize again," he said sternly.

Doll pouted before standing up and grumbling to herself, but before she went back into the tent she looked over her shoulder.

"Joker?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

Joker's heart practically melted. Sure, Doll was certainly a pain-in-the-ass at times, especially for a thirteen-year-old, but she was sweet most of the time and truly meant well.

"I love 'ee too, silly goose."

Doll smiled at her nickname before disappearing into the tent. Joker turned back to Gypsy who was also smiling up at him. Joker then pulled out he pocket watch to check the time, it was almost seven o'clock.

"Suppose I'd better take off to go practice while the tent's empty, so I'll see 'ee around!"

Gypsy nodded with a grin before turning her attention to serving the second-tier folk their breakfast. Joker strode down to the practice tent eagerly and was glad that Gypsy had been there to distract his thoughts from Father and their mission. Once inside the huge tent Joker set about removing his jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt to his elbows before going to the storage area and pulling out some juggling balls, determined to beat his record of juggling eight balls. Once he began to toss the colorful orbs around there was nothing else he concentrated on, who knows how long he had been juggling for before Beast broke his concentration.

"Oi, Joker."

The ringleader was startled out of his concentration, jumping a bit before he allowed all the balls to drop. He gave Beast a sour look before he began to pick the objects up.

"Blimey Beast, I nearly perfected bein' able to juggle nine o' these things."

The busty woman only rolled her eyes.

"I was just sayin' that the other members need to practice as well an' it's our turn to watch 'em."

Joker looked puzzled for a moment, once again pulling out his pocket watch before realizing that he had been juggling for a good hour. No wonder why his arms felt so sore...

"Oh, right. Sorry for tellin' 'ee off like that Beast, I didn't realize the time." Beast only huffed, so Joker pulled out his cane and pressed his thumb over the tip so that a bouquet of flowers appeared out of it. He rested his chin on her shoulder and held the flowers out for her. "Come now, take the flowers an' let's 'ave a smile, eh?"

Beast blushed madly but took the flowers and marched off to open the tent. Joker moved to stand near one of the pillars so he could chaperone the trainees- he was honestly surprised at how often fights would occur, Jumbo had to always be watching carefully and remove anyone who started fighting. He grinned as he heard the trainees chatter amongst themselves when they flooded into the tent and begin to set up for practice. He scanned the crowd and eventually found Gypsy stretching with Doll, noticing that she changed back into her performance attire. He couldn't help but feel a little insecure about his own inflexibility as he watched the two stretch their limber limbs, bit he continued to curiously watch her as she began to practice. It was quite remarkable to watch how she bent herself into all sorts of odd positions and easily fix herself upright without breaking a sweat. After holding several poses that Joker and a few others who were watching as well tilted their head at, she stood straight up and pressed a finger to her lip in thought.

"Joker, would you mind helping me find some props please?"

The young man pushed himself off the pillar he had been leaning on and walked alongside Gypsy as they headed to the storage area.

"Sure! Watcha need?"

"A bow and arrow and a target," she said easily as she began to search through some of the boxes.

Joker let out a curious hum as he wandered to a pile of boxes, thankful that Beast and Wendy were so organized.

"Those would be in the 'weapons' boxes," he began to search through the boxes as well, but didn't have to search for very long when he found a bow with a sling full of a couple of arrows. "'ere we go, but what do 'ee need these for? Performin' a new trick, are 'ee?"

Gypsy gathered up the weapons as Joker grabbed on of Dagger's targets and they made their way back to her practice area. She gave him a knowing smirk from over her shoulder.

"You'll see."

Joker grew excited at the prospect and was curious of what sort of trick she would perform. She dragged a platform to her area and quickly set up the target to stand a few meters from her. Joker rose a curious brow.

"Mind if I watch this new trick then?"

"I certainly don't mind." She turned to the orchestra, "drumroll please."

As the drummer rolled his sticks Joker watched as Gypsy bent backwards and held herself on top of the podium, grasped the bow between the toes of one foot and an arrow between the toes of another foot, and carefully aimed like an archer would with her feet. Joker and some others watched intensely. He trusted that Gypsy wouldn't miss the target, but the target was so far from her and anything could happen within the distance between herself and the target. He held his breath as she drew back the arrow and felt his heart leap into his throat the moment she released the arrow, but he and others cheered once they saw the arrow not only hit the target, but hit a bull's eye no less! A relieved smile spread across Gypsy's face and she straightened herself upright after setting down the bow and arrows. Soon she was surrounded by other circus members who were telling her how they've never seen a trick like that before, she laughed the comments off and thanked everyone for their kind words.

"That was mighty impressive of 'ee, Gypsy," Joker's voice broke through the crowd as he observed the arrow. He turned to look at her and smiled, "this trick here may as well make 'ee a first-tier member." He walked up to her and patted her shoulder, "ye've still got a long way to go, but it shouldn't be too far for 'ee. Keep up the good work., understand?"

A dazzling smile broke over her face at his words and Doll had appeared next to her and began to shake her in her excitement. Joker eventually walked away from the crowd as it dispersed and everyone went about practicing their own routines, so he figured that he could take this time to go bathe. He made his way to the bathing area easily since there was hardly anyone outside of the practice tent, picking up a towel that sat by the entranceway before he began to pluck the bobby pins from his scalp and stripped himself of his clothes and prosthesis and placed them in a cubby.

The bathing area itself was empty of any people, which is just what Joker liked. Not that he had a problem bathing with others around, he just preferred the calm and quiet of being by himself. He picked up one the wooden buckets from the stone covered ground and went to one of the pumps to fill it up with what he correctly assumed was warm water since it was summer. Grabbing a bar of soap as well he seated himself on the ground, which was surprisingly cool, and began to wash himself off. He dunked his head into the bucket of water and started to wash his hair with his one hand, letting out a pleased hum as he massaged his scalp, and re-dunked his head into the bucket to rinse it out. He would have to redo his makeup once he dried off, but that was alright since he needed to redo it all anyway. Joker struggled a bit to thoroughly clean himself off, one of the more annoying things about bathing alone was that there was nobody around to wash your back for you. When he heard the door to the baths open he turned to see who had just come in and was a surprised as well as embarrassed to see that Gypsy had entered, goddamnit she seemed to be everywhere. Joker felt his face heat up once he saw that she had undressed herself, but reminded himself to remain professional and to focus on washing off as quickly as he could in order to avoid awkwardness.

"Oh, Joker. I didn't expect to see you here."

Joker forced himself to look into her eyes as she sat herself down near him with her own bucket, soap bar, and towel in tow.

"Aye, figured that I oughtta bathe now while ev'ryone's practicin' in the tent." He would have liked some help, but he didn't expect it to come in the form of the lovely woman he claims to not have any feelings for and therefore grew quite bashful upon making his request. "Uhhh, Gypsy? Would 'ee mind washin' me back? Can't exactly reach it 'ee see."

Gypsy was a bit hesitant to answer.

"S-sure. I don't mind, but you have to wash mine in return."

Joker grinned at her.

"Deal."

He felt her push his braided ends forward and over his shoulders, he anticipated her touch and relaxed at the feel of her sudsy hands on his back. A comfortable yet awkward silence passed over the two, but Gypsy eventually broke it.

"I'm sorry if this is an insensitive you at all, but what happened to your arm?"

Joker chuckled.

"It ain't insensitive at all, ye're just askin' a question. I was born without an arm."

Though he couldn't see if, Gypsy gave him a sympathetic look.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"'t's alright. Don't remember what 'appened to me mother or much o' anythin' before I was ten, seems like I was just livin' on the streets all me life." He tilted his head back so that he could look at her, "most of us first-tier folk 'ave missin' limbs or are damaged in one way or another: Beast missin' 'er right leg, Dagger lost 'is left leg in a working accident, Peter 'n Wendy 'ave stunted growth, Jumbo grew too much, an' poor Doll's parents burnt 'er face when she was young an' threw 'er out on the streets."

Joker watched as Gypsy's face fell and could tell that her heart was breaking for them.

"I'm so sorry..."

He grinned up at her in response.

"Don't be. We're alive an' well an' 'appy now. We've all got workin' appendages, roofs over our 'eads, food to eat, water to drink, a bed to sleep in. We're better off 'ere."

Something suddenly felt off about Gypsy as she rinsed the soap from his back. Joker wanted to know what was the matter but was willing to let her tell him in her own time rather than press her into telling him what was wrong.

"'ere, now 'ee can turn around and I'll do me best to wash yer back for 'ee."

Gypsy chuckled at his words as she shifted herself around so that her back faced toward him, though it sounded sad and forced. She had already pushed all of her own hair over her freckle-covered shoulders, so Joker simply got to work on washing her smooth skin as the air grew heavy. Gypsy finally took a slow breath in.

"Since we're telling each other our back stories,and do you want to know why I was kicked out of my camp?"

Joker paused a bit since the question seemed to have come from nowhere.

"Didn't 'ee say that yer camp thought 'ee killed someone?"

Gypsy nodded.

"The man who was killed was named Guariel and he was supposed to be my husband."

Joker stopped what he was doing and questions flooded his mind. Of course, Joker didn't ask the questions aloud and simply waited for her to continue speaking.

"In Romani tradition, when a woman turns sixteen she begins to search for a husband. And although I had no interest in finding one, my father found one for me. "The metalsmith's son would be the perfect fit for you", he said," her voice grew deeper and she spoke in a thicker Romani accent as she 'spoke' in her father's voice. "I said no, he said "I already paid the dowry and made arrangements with his father, you will marry Gauriel." Another Romani tradition is our 'courting methods', which involves the girl dressing up and going out into the town to find a boy who will want her to be his wife. Not a lot of men wanted me apparently, but Gauriel certainly did. All day he followed me around and tried to grab me and make me his wife, and every time he grabbed me I would decline him."

Joker was quite pleased to hear that Gypsy stayed true to her word and refused the man she talked about, but he continued to listen with growing worry as she temporarily lost her voice. She coughed and carried on with her story, though she let out a heavy sigh before continuing.

"Then during the night I thought he had given up. I changed and went out to feed the horses, but Gauriel threw me over his shoulder and dragged me into the caravan that was served to be our home after the wedding when I was supposed to have said yes." She took a deep breath in, Joker began to rub at her back soothingly. "He hit me. Told me how stupid I was for denying him, then he forced himself on me to claim me as his."

Joker felt all color leave his face and suddenly grew very aware of their nakedness. He patiently waited for her regain enough of her composure to go on.

"I was angry at him for what he did to me, but when I told our families what he did all they said was how he wouldn't have forced himself upon me if I had accepted him the first time." She turned to look at Joker's shocked expression.

"Shit," his voice was barely above a whisper. "Gypsy, I am sorry that happened to you."

She merely shrugged and Joker was reminded that he had the duty of washing her back as she continued.

"The next day I had a vision of an unruly mule trampling Gauriel to death. Well, the whole town was out and about getting ready for wedding preparations and I go to where the horses typically are. Sure enough, Gauriel wanted an unruly mule as his wedding present and ignored the owner's warnings and my vision came true. The mule bucked him off immediately and trampled him. Everyone in the town was mourning, all except for me. The village thought it was too odd to be a coincidence that my "fiancée" was killed after I tried to claim that he raped me and believed that I bewitched the mule and forced him to kill Gauriel." She then laughed bitterly, "at least they were kind enough to give me the caravan he raped me in and the mule who had killed him. The mule is my best friend actually, and I am grateful to him." She looked over her shoulder and smiled. "Like you though, I'm better off now."

While he was happy that she got justice, Joker was sickened by how her people had treated her. He offered her a gentle smile.

"Well, 'ee can forget about them, we're your family now."

Gypsy turned to him with a grateful smile. She then threw her arms around Joker and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you, Joker," she mumbled. "Sorry for dumping my life story onto you like that, but it feels good to have finally tell somebody."

Joker was taken aback by her very sudden hug and would have been a blushing mess since they were naked, but instead he smiled and hugged her back the best he could.

"'ee ain't alone, love. We're all damaged 'ere."


	6. Chapter 6

*****Hello again! This story is just about wrapping up with only a few more chapters left, but as the story's end comes closer I will have a poll to see if I should add an extended ending for it or not. Please please please leave reviews, don't be shy I like criticism. Let me know about things like OOC moments, spelling/grammar mistakes, or anything like "I really enjoyed how you did this, but what if you had done this other thing instead?" I'm a baby fanfic writer, I've never completed a story before, GIVE ME ADVICE BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING! ;A; *Ahem* Anyways, enjoy the chapter! Only warnings for this chapter is that there is swearing and injuries involved.*****

 **Chapter Six**

*************************************************************a few weeks later*****************************************************************

"Alright everyone! Stop practicin', we've got two hours before showtime!"

Joker watched as everyone scrambled out of the practice tent to get ready for the show. People started to put away their equipment, climb down from podiums, and readjust themselves before heading off to set up. He saw Gypsy in the distance, but she seemed to be standing there staring at nothing. He was just about to walk up to her to see what was the matter when he heard a crash, which seemed to snap her out of whatever daze she had been in.

"Ow! Bloody hell, fuckin' shit!"

He whipped his head at the sound of Doll's cursing and sprinted up to the girl he considered to be a younger sister. A group of people circled around her near the ladder for the tightrope.

"Ev'ryone outta the way!" Joker called before the crowd parted so he could get to Doll.

He saw that she was lying in a fetal position clutching at her knee with Gypsy kneeling in front of her. Jade briefly glanced at violet as he crouched down next to her and placed his hand on Doll's back to help her sit up.

"Wha' 'appened?"

Gypsy was examining Doll's knee, which didn't look right at all, as Doll explained what happened. She seemed more annoyed than anything else.

"I fuckin' missed a rung in the ladder as I was climbin' down an' I fell."

Gypsy sighed as she pulled off her bandanna.

"It looks like your kneecap dislocated. Can you straighten your leg at all?" Doll did her best, but only ended up hissing in pain. Gypsy sighed. "I saw this would happen. I'm going to have to snap it back into place before we take you to Doc." She turned to Joker and the rest of the first-tier members who had just joined them with concern etched onto their faces, "I'm going to need you to hold her down and keep her calm."

"Wait, wait, wait," Doll grew uneasy as Jumbo crouched down behind her to hold her steady and the rest of the first-tier members kneeling near her, "what're ya gonna do?"

Beast took Doll's hand which she immediately squeezed out of nervousness.

"This is gonna hurt, squeeze my hand when it does."

Gypsy scooted herself close to Doll's injury and Joker waited for her to give him instructions.

"I'm going to need you to flex your hip Doll," she said soothingly, "it'll help make this as painless as possible." She looked at Joker, "could you hold her leg up for me?"

Joker did as he was told and watched her curiously.

"I'm going to slowly straighten your leg out, that way it's easier to pop back into place."

Doll nodded, though tears stung at her eyes from the pain and slight panic she was feeling.

"Ye've done this sorta thing before?" Joker asked, Gypsy nodded.

"My father was a sort of doctor back in my camp, I actually learned about reading palms from his books."

She then slowly straightened Doll's leg, who began to cringe and squeeze Beast's hand at the pain. Before Doll's leg was completely straight Gypsy pushed her kneecap back into place, a loud popping sound accompanying the movement. Doll let out a surprised yelp at the contact before letting out a relieved sigh as Gypsy began to wrap it with her scarf.

"'oly shit, it's stopped 'urtin'!"

Joker helped the girl stand up, looping an arm under her own to help her stand.

"Can you put any weight on it?" Joker asked gently. Doll slowly put weight on her injury but Joker saw the way she winced in pain and he shook his head. "This ain't gonna do, love. I don't wanna risk 'ee fallin' from the tightrope 'cause o' this injury," he turned his head to Jumbo, who had just stood up. "Jumbo, take her to Doc please an' explain wha' 'appened."

Doll pouted but knew better than to object when Joker was right, so she resorted to puffing her cheeks out and crossing her arms as Jumbo gently lifted her up and carried her bridal-style to the medical tent.

"Well, shit. What're we gonna do now with Doll injured?" Peter was as annoyed as ever.

"We could just replace her with one o' the backups?" Dagger suggested.

"Nah, that might put too much stress on a backup to be placed in front o' an audience," Beast said with a frown.

"Would we shorten the show? The audience ain't gonna be happy if we did that," Wendy pitched in.

"Well we can't stretch our routines," Dagger said, his voice straining in frustration, "we ain't practiced long enough to make sure it goes smoothly!"

As the group chatted Joker allowed his eyes to roam around the newcomers who were watching them warily as they packed up their belongings. Beast was right, nobody aside from the first-tier members had been in front of an audience. Aside from Dagger's assistants, but they certainly wouldn't be able to perform anything grand enough to fit Doll's twenty-minute timeslot. Unless...

"Oi, Gypsy." Everyone's heads snapped to the young Romani woman, who had been standing awkwardly and was just now inching away to leave. "'ow big of an audience would 'ee say ye've performed for?"

Gypsy twiddled her thumbs behind her back and rocked back on her heels nervously.

"I've performed my dances mostly in front of my camp and on the streets, but nothing quite as large as a circus crowd."

"Do 'ee think 'ee could if we needed 'ee to?" Joker's tone grew serious and rather urgent. "I know we 'aven't the chance to practice with 'ee, but this is an emergency and we need someone to fill in Doll's performance time slot."

"Aww, no way!" Dagger whined. "She was doin' a bang-up job as me assistant! The crowd loves 'er!"

"True, but they would love 'er more is she was given 'er own performing segment, yeah?" Joker's eyes softened since she looked like a deer in the headlights as he approached her and gently placed his left hand on her shoulder. "Now I ain't gonna force 'ee to perform if 'ee don't want to, but understand that ye're pretty much our last 'ope for the show. So, what do 'ee say?"

Gypsy seemed to be thinking for a moment, and the air grew tense as they waited for her answer. She then looked Joker in the eye with a nod, determination glimmering in her eyes.

"I can do it."

Joker beamed and everyone let out a relieved sigh. He clapped her back with his left hand and began to guide her to the back of the tent.

"Terrific! Let's get 'ee ready for the show then! Ye'll 'ave to tell me what all ye're plannin' on doin, don't forget it 'as to be 'bout twenty minutes long."

Gypsy paused to think for a moment.

"I do have a routine choreographed, hopefully the audience will like it."

Joker smiled encouragingly.

"I'm sure they'll love 'ee! Let me know what sorts o' stuff ye'll need when we start prepping the stage in about an hour. Until then, do whatever ye need to so that ye're ready for the performance."

Gypsy nodded in understanding before she hurried off to get ready. Joker let out a sigh before checking his pocket watch for the time, which they had plenty of. He smiled as he thought about how well Gypsy would perform for the crowd. Her fortune telling was certainly a popular attraction to draw in audience members, he'd even seen her and Beast enter the caravan almost daily to have tea and readings in the mornings. After the intimate moment the two had shared in the baths they had gotten extremely close: the two would sometimes would meet privately in his tent for a game of cards, or they would meet in her caravan and she would tell him all about her abilities. There were times that would have been perfect to kiss her, but he would then remind himself that he couldn't possibly be in a relationship despite how badly he wanted her.

He shook his head and reminded himself to get ready for the show, he would have to take down the tightrope since Doll wouldn't be performing tonight and he would have to change up his script to replace Doll with Gypsy until her knee healed, who knows how long that would take. Jumbo had just walked into the tent looking for Joker and he smiled thankfully as he walked up to meet the larger man. The rest of the first-tier members surrounded the two as well

"'ow's she lookin'?"

Jumbo let out a tired sigh.

"Doc says it'll take about six weeks for her knee to be completely back to normal, she's been in bed pouting her head off."

The group collectively chuckled, that sounds like something she would do. Dagger lifted his arms so that his hands rested behind his head.

"So is Gypsy gonna be takin' Doll's place 'til she gets better?"

"Looks like it mate," Peter began to elbow Joker's side, "though I'm sure you ain't gonna mind it now, are you?"

Beast glared down at Peter and Wendy snickered behind her hand.

"That also means we'll be down a person when Father sends us out," Jumbo's monotone voice cut in before Joker could respond.

Now the group collectively groaned.

"Well she ain't that useful on them missions anyway," Peter lifted himself to sit on a nearby crate. "Never 'ad the guts to actually kill anyone, ye know? Remember 'ow many times you've told her to just do it, Joker? Maybe it's a good thing that this 'appened."

Peter was right, Joker hated to admit. Out of all of them Doll was the most hesitant to ever kill someone when she had to, and it's almost gotten their asses caught a number of times. It may have been because she was so young, ten years younger than himself in fact, but she still needed to learn that she needs to follow orders if they were to avoid being hanged for their crimes. Joker flicked Peter's head.

"Don't say that 'bout 'er, she's still our sister and a valuable asset for our missions," he said sternly. "Now everyone, go an' prepare for the show. We need to make sure that everythin' runs smoothly even without Doll, it's still the last performance of the summer season and we 'ave to make it our best."

Everyone nodded in agreement before they headed off to complete their own tasks before getting ready for the show. Now all that Joker could do is run his hands through his hair and pray that the performance goes smoothly.

*****************************************************************showtime************************************************************************

The audience for this show was huge, the crowd had to squeeze together so they could fit in the tent properly. Joker had expected a large audience for the last summer show, but this was much larger than he had thought. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he smiled broadly as the lights shone on him.

"Ladies an' gentlemen! Boys an' girls of all ages!"

He went through his usual opening speech, introducing himself to the audience, making them laugh before the other cast members joined him from behind. He introduced Jumbo as the first act, who always somehow manages to startle Joker by yelling loudly, before running off the stage with the others. They all stood backstage and watched Jumbo perform as they always did, though it did feel odd having Gypsy take Doll's place. She stood on her toes and placed her chin on Joker's shoulder and watched with awe as Jumbo performed his fire-breathing act.

"I've never had the chance to see anyone else perform aside from Dagger before," she gushed. "This is all so amazing."

"Aye, but 'ee best be getting' ready for yer own performance love. Ye're gonna be right after Dagger, who's after Jumbo for this show."

He saw a flash of nervousness in her eyes before she nodded and hurried off to go prepare. Joker was not at all worried that the crowd would dislike her; considering how popular her fortune-telling skills were, she drew more people to the circus. Though he didn't necessarily believe in all of her spiritual findings, they still interested him to some degree. He's even noticed that if she's having a "vision" of sorts, she will momentarily freeze up and her eyes will seem to go blank until it passed, then the event will occur as she had predicted and she will handle whatever situation in a calm manner. She was quite nice to have around, even the incredibly shy Snake has started warming up to her and the other first-tier members.

"Jumbo," Gypsy called as the large man came back behind the curtain. "Would you mind lending me a hand for my act please?"

Jumbo nodded and vanished with Gypsy. Joker was curious about her intention, but decided it would be better to be surprised and that made him giddy. He suddenly began to feel impatient and found himself pacing backstage and checking his pocket watch every so often.

"Oi, you alright Joker?"

Doll had been seated near the curtain on top of a stack of boxes so that she could still watch the performance with her crutches leaning against the crates. Joker nearly jumped at her voice, but calmed himself after.

"Yeah, just antsy I s'ppose."

Doll gave him a suggestive smirk and Joker rose an eyebrow in response.

"Ye want Gypsy to do well during her performance, do you?"

Joker rolled his eyes, _not this again_.

"I want ev'ryone to do their best durin' performances. 'm jus' excited to see Gypsy since I ain't ever seen 'er perform a full routine is all."

Annoyance began to overtake him since Doll's grin only seemed to grow.

"But you've never been this anxious for any of the other members before, even when we first started the circus."

Joker pursed his lips in thought, she did have a point. Why was it that he hadn't felt this way for any of the other troupe members, but for Gypsy? She wasn't much different from the rest, so why did she make Joker feel this way when others haven't before? Maybe he should consult Father over this? _No_ , Joker wanted to slap himself in the face for even thinking of such a stupid thing to tell Father. He knew that Father would respond horribly- he didn't think that Father even knew what love was anymore. Father did once have a wife, but she left him shortly after he began to obsess over that Phantomhive boy.

"Joker, you need to be on stage."

Doll's words snapped him out of his thoughts and he suddenly heard the thunderous applause of the audience. Joker hurried out onto the stage so that he could introduce Gypsy as the next act after congratulating Dagger for his performance. As Dagger and his assistants made their way off the stage Joker saw Jumbo wheeling something onto the stage in his peripheral vision.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we've got a real special performance for 'ee tonight. Our lovely tightrope walker Doll unfortunately injured 'erself earlier this evenin', but we've been able to squeeze in another phenomenal performance for 'ee. Those of 'ee who 'ave been to previous performances may 'ave noticed that she was absent from Dagger's act, but that's 'cause she's got 'er own amazin' act for 'ee. So please welcome our newcomer, our brilliant contortionist, Gypsy!"

The audience murmured in confusion rather than excitedly cheer when he announced her performance. Confused as well Joker turned to see Jumbo placing a box on top of a podium before he began to walk away. Panic sparked through his body so hard that he felt it buzzing in his teeth. He quickly approached Jumbo.

"Oi oi!" Jumbo turned to the ringleader. "Where the hell is Gypsy?" Jumbo pointed to the crate, and Joker placed his hands on his hips and scoffed. "If ye're tellin' me Gypsy's in that tiny box-"

He jolted as he heard knocking coming from the box, making the audience laugh. Hesitantly he approached it and slowly removed the lid. He gasped and jumped back as the box fell apart to reveal Gypsy, who had unbelievably contorted herself to fit in such as small space. The audience gasped at the reveal and Gypsy waved to them before she straightened herself out and stood on her feet, giving the audience a gracious bow as they applauded. She looked to Joker with a mischievous grin and winked at him. Joker was amazed at first, then his shocked expression melted away into a beaming smile as he approached her.

"I do apologize for the shock, ladies an' gentlemen! Please enjoy this performance!"

The audience clapped and Joker's spotlight faded out as Gypsy's became brighter. He walked backwards to his position behind the curtain so that he wouldn't miss a moment of her routine. Her movements were slow and precise, but the way she was able to hold herself up so effortlessly was astounding. He ignored Doll and Dagger's grins as he slipped backstage.

"Look at 'im, 'e's truly entranced ain't 'e?" Doll said to Dagger, bumping his elbow with her own.

"Aye, she told me not to tell 'im 'bout that openin' bit 'cause she wanted to surprise 'im with 'er skills. She didn't disappoint, evidently."

Joker held up a bony finger at the two to silence them and sat down on the ground with his legs crossed so he could watch a bit more comfortably and give his legs a bit of a break. The two simply giggled and watched along with him. Gypsy leaned forward into a split and slowly held herself up with one hand. With the other she reached into the front of her blouse and pulled out a cigar and some matches, which she proceeded to light with her feet and smoke casually. The audience and Joker laughed at her whimsy and clapped as she snuffed the cigar out and moved into another position. After some time watching Gypsy fold herself into all sorts of odd and amazing poses, Joker noticed one of Dagger's assistants bringing out a target and a bow and arrow and he immediately became excited.

"She's goin' to do the thing where she shoots the arrow with 'er feet! I've seen 'er do it durin' practice!" He excitedly tapped Dagger's prosthetic leg with his own prosthetic arm, which made a clinking sound as the two fake limbs collided.

Dagger rose a curious brow, both to his elder's reaction and to what Gypsy was about to do.

"'ow's she gonna do that?"

"Shhhh, watch!" Wendy scolded.

The entire first-tier cast was watching Gypsy now. Beast, who had just now come up behind the lot, frowned at how Joker had been intently focused on Gypsy's performance but kept her mouth shut and watched. The audience and Joker was practically at the edge of their seats as Gypsy held herself up into a handstand and drew out an arrow from a sling another one of Dagger's assistants held out for her with her toes. She then picked up the bow with her other foot, set the arrow across the strings, and drew it back while she carefully aimed. The audience nervously whispered amongst themselves and even some of the other first-tier members grew anxious, but Joker eagerly bit his lip and leaned forward in anticipation.

Then the arrow was released.

Everyone held their breaths as it flew through the air. Dagger covered his eyes out of fright that it might hit someone.

The arrow pierces the dead center of the target.

The crowd goes absolutely crazy. The first-tier members cheer and cry out with the crowd. Doll even forgot about her injury and stood up to clap before crying out in pain and falling over, Wendy and Beast had to pull her back up and set her firmly on the crates.

Joker ran out to meet Gypsy at the end of her performance. She bowed to the standing audience, Joker lifted her up and spun her around due to his excitement of her success. He set her down and smiled so wide that his face may as well split in half.

"Well done! 'ee did amazin' out there!" He shouted to her over the crowd's applause.

Gypsy beamed back up at him and threw her arms around him.

"I'm glad it went well!" She yelled back.

The two drew back from each other. Joker took her hand in his left one and interlaced their fingers together as he held their arms up, though she stood up on her tip-toes to reach the height of Joker's arm.

"Give it up to Gypsy for a truly amazin' first performance!"

The crowd applauded for at least another three minutes before Joker managed to calm them down. Gypsy bowed once again before trotting off the stage and Joker laughed as the audience began to chant "encore!".

"Now, now, settle down everyone! We've still quite a few acts before the encore, but we're certain they will blow 'ee away all the same. Please welcome our two phenomenal trapeze artists, Peter an' Wendy!"

Joker rushed off to reach the backstage as the two performed and practically tackled Gypsy into another spinning hug. Although she was startled, she laughed along with him and the others.

"'ee were amazin' out there!" Joker began to gush. "I ain't ever seen anythin' quite like what 'ee did out there, an' to get a crowd to respond like that during yer first show? Incredible is what 'ee are!"

Gypsy blushed and rubbed the back of her neck when Joker finally set her down.

"Well thank you for the compliments! I've trained hard so that I would be successful with the bow and arrow trick." She then turned to Doll, who took up her crutches and headed over to them. "Is your knee feeling any better?"

Doll grinned and nodded.

"Definitely! You were wonderful out there, you were!"

"Yeah. This one got so excited by your arrow trick tha' she forgot 'bout 'er knee and ended up fallin' 'cause of it," Beast had now come into the conversation, this time with a soft smile. "You did very well for your first performance."

Gypsy lit up at Beast's compliment and Joker shot her an appreciative smile. He then felt a tug on his sleeve. Turning his head revealed Snake gently leading him a bit away from the group and Joker grew concerned.

"Somethin' the matter Snake?"

The white-haired young man shook his head as one of his snakes, Emily, Joker believed, lifted its head and looked at Joker.

"..."You look at Gypsy the same way Dagger looks at Beast"...says Emily."

Joker felt his heart pound in his chest at the comment. Dagger adored Beast and often gushed about how he plans on marrying her someday, always declaring his love for her in any way he could. Joker never did anything of the sort towards Gypsy and mostly kept his feelings and thoughts to himself, was he really that obvious? Joker merely snorted at Snake's words.

"Not 'ee too. Yeah, Gypsy an' I 'ave gotten close since she's been 'ere, but that don't mean I'm in love with 'er or anythin'."

Snake nervously scratched his nose as his snakes coiled around his shoulders.

"..."Just thought you should know that we support you two"...says Emily."

Joker looked back at the young Romani woman, who was still being praised by the other first-tier members. She caught him staring and they held eye contact for what seemed like an eternity, almost like the whole world suddenly stopped around the two. Joker felt his heart begin to swell up as he saw her lips stretch into one of the biggest smiles he had ever seen.

And it was in that moment in time that Joker realized that he had fallen head-over-heels in love with this young woman.

"...shit."


	7. Chapter 7

*****Hello readers! We've only got a couple of chapters left for this story, so while I'm writing the story I've been wondering if you guys wanted to see an angsty ending or a relatively happy ending? Let me know what you wanna see in the reviews! I'm also probably gonna be updating more frequent as I have been in the past just because I'm finally on summer break and I need to use my computer for online classes anways. Warnings for this chapter: alcohol, partying, drunk shenanigans and drunk sex. Another reason why this fic is rated M people! Hope the sex scene isn't as awkward to read as it was for me to write!*****

 **Chapter Seven**

The entire circus gathered into the mess hall, though this time all the tables were pushed along the tent walls to leave a large enough space for dancing. Great food had been made and first-tier and second-tier members alike all gathered into the tent to join in on the merrymaking. Everyone had dressed up as nicely as a circus group could to celebrate the last show of the summer season. Even Joker had spruced up quite a bit, wearing his nicer clothes that included a pair of purple and black vertical striped slacks, a plain black dress shirt, a green and black vertically striped waist coat, and a pair of black dress shoes. He tamed his usually unruly hair to be slicked back and decided against wearing any sort of makeup. He arrived early to make sure that the preparations were set so he stood off to the side, leaning against a pole as he watched everything start to come into place. A sudden whistle emitted from beside him.

"You certainly clean up well, don't you?"

Looking to the side he saw Gypsy had brought out yet another tray of delicious smelling food out onto one of the tables, she hadn't yet changed out of her working clothes. Joker pretended to be offended.

"What's that supposed to mean then? That I don't normally look good?"

At this Gypsy set down the tray and slyly grinned at him.

"Of course you always look good, I'm just saying that you look very handsome tonight." She then brushed past him, their bodies barely touching. "Now if you'll excuse me, Doll wanted to get ready with me."

Joker felt his face grow warm as she left. Thoughts once again rushed through his head: _She thinks I always look good? And she called me handsome tonight, what does that mean? Does she find me attractive then? Does she love me back?_ He yelped as he felt a sudden clap on his back and an annoying elbowing in his side coming from Dagger and Peter.

"Ain't you the lucky one, eh?" Dagger said with a wink.

"We 'eard that little exchange between you two lovebirds," Peter said as he continued to elbow Joker.

The two young men were also dressed up. Dagger wore a black and white vertically stripped jacket over gray dress shirt and a gray lacy cravat with a black waist coat, black slacks, and black boots. Peter wore a checkered black and bright green dress shirt with a black vest, a pair of black slacks, and black dress shoes. Joker scoffed at the two and shooed them away, and as he took a step forward he bumped into Jumbo, who wore a plain black suit with a white dress shirt and a black top hat.

"Whoops, sorry Jumbo I wasn't payin' attention to where I was goin'."

Jumbo nodded and before Joker could walk away Jumbo stopped him.

"You know, it doesn't hurt to admit you love her." At this point Joker was frustrated with everyone telling him to get together with the contortionist, but before he could retort Jumbo interrupted him. "What Father doesn't know won't kill him." The large man gently patted a stunned Joker's back. "You deserve to have some happiness in your life, Joker."

As Jumbo walked away Joker was left standing in the middle of the mess hall blinking and thinking about what Jumbo had said. _I deserve to have some happiness? But aren't I already happy where I am now?_ He watched as more and more people entered the tent, observing how everyone mingled and laughed amongst one another. Peter and Wendy were causing mischief as usual, running around and laughing madly when Wendy lost her footing and tripped over the skirt of her pink dress. He supposed that somewhere in the emptiness he felt he could find some happiness in his heart, but was he really content? Joker shook his head and instead concentrated on chatting amongst the other members.

"You alright Joker?"

He apparently hadn't noticed Beast approach him, he seemed to be having trouble noticing the world around him. Beast wore one of her usual tight-fitting black corsets over a delicate looking red satin sleeveless dress which accentuated her cleavage. She wore generally neutral makeup and her curly hair was left down in its natural state. She looked as beautiful as she always did. Joker waved her question off.

"Aye, 'm fine." He then smiled at her. "You certainly look lovely tonight."

A light blush decorating Beast's cheeks

"And you look as dashing as ever."

Joker smiled in return and was interrupted by Dagger dragging her away while showering her with every compliment he could think of. Joker merely shook his head and continued to wait for everyone to arrive. The only people who seemed to be missing were Doll and Gypsy, which was odd considering how punctual the two usually were.

"Can't we just start without them?" A grumpy and hungry Peter whined.

Before Joker could reprimand Peter, he heard Doll's voice outside of the tent from right behind them.

"I can't believe how long it took us to get ready!" Doll complained.

"I can't believe how many dresses you've ended up soiling while getting ready," Gypsy replied teasingly, which made Joker and others laugh.

Doll crutched into the tent first wearing a dress with white poofy long sleeves, a light blue faux corset, and a black skirt that reached her knees, white stockings, and black ballet shoes. She looked rather cute. Gypsy entered after her and Joker was in awe. The Romani woman wore a floor length golden-colored gown with sleeves the cascaded off her shoulders and a skirt that billowed out. It was lined with a lovely sky blue fabric which was decorated with red flowers. Her curled hair fell along her shoulders and rippled down her back and was, surprisingly, bare of a bandanna that she usually wore. Upon entering the tent, everyone stared at the last two people to arrive and Gypsy blushed.

"I feel a bit overdressed," she said with a nervous laugh.

Dagger came up to her and grabbed her hands to spin her in a circle.

"You ain't overdressed in the slightest, love! You look amazin', don't she Joker?"

He then released her hands and flung her into Joker's arms. The two shyly looked each other over before stepping away from the other's embrace. Joker coughed as Gypsy rocked back and forth on her heels.

"Erm...'ee do look...beautiful tonight."

The way Gypsy's eyes lit up at his compliment only confirmed the love he felt for her.

"Thank you, Joker."

"Yeah, yeah, you love each other. Can we PLEASE eat now?" Peter interrupted as he impatiently waited as the first in line with a plate in his hands.

Gypsy snorted. Joker then stood up on a nearby chair to make an announcement.

"Alright ev'ryone, listen up!" All eyes were on him now, aside from Peter who was more concentrated on the food. "I know that this summer season was tough an' a bit hotter than expected, but I'm proud of each an' ev'ry one o' 'ee for givin' yer all for the circus. Tonight we celebrate all of our accomplishments and the achievements we've encountered, and may we 'ave an even greater autumn season."

Everyone clapped at his words as he hopped off the chair, and the band began to play. Peter took that as his cue to start filling his plate with food and everyone joined him. As Joker joined the line he grabbed two plates: one for himself and one to bring to Doll since she was still injured. Once he filled the plates he brought them back over to the table she resided and handed the fuller plate off to her.

"You're the best," she said appreciatively as she placed the plate in front of her and began to dig into her food- it always amazed Joker to see how such a tiny thing like Doll could eat so damn much. "So, 'ave you admitted your feelings for Gypsy yet?"

Now that Joker accepted his feelings, he became less annoyed when people mentioned her in a romantic sense with him. Looking behind him he saw Gypsy had brought the band members plates of food, then he looked back at Doll, who had even stopped eating she was so eager for his reply.

"...not yet."

Doll slammed her hands down on the table.

"YOU'RE FINALLY ADMITTING IT?" Joker had to laugh at Doll's excitement.

"I know just how you can do it, too." Dagger had joined in on the conversation as he sat down next to Joker, taking Joker's hand into his own. "Get her to dance with you, and then after a few dances when you're slow dancin' you take her hands in your own, just like this, tell 'er 'ow much you adore 'er, and go in for a kiss."

Dagger began to lean in with his lips pursed, almost as if he were pretending Joker was Beast. He pushed Dagger's face away to avoid his lips, which made Doll laugh heartily. Dagger was certainly more romantic than Joker was, but what he had suggested nearly made Joker cringe-it seemed like the type of stuff that would be featured in an old woman's romance novel, that just wasn't his style. Joker didn't even have any idea how he had magically seduced the very few women he had courted in the past (not without confirming they didn't have illnesses of course, he couldn't afford to not be careful), how the hell was he going to make this work with Gypsy? He ran a hand through his hair in frustration, but was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Doll whining and pouting.

"It ain't no fun bein' injured when ev'ry one else is dancin'"

"Then 'ee shouldn't 'ave injured yerself in the first place." He meant to be teasing, but seeing how he had only made her more upset he stood up. Joker bowed dramatically in front of Doll and held his hand out to her, "may I 'ave this dance, my lady?"

Doll burst into a fit of giggles.

"It sounds funny 'earin' you talk all proper like that."

"I can be a gentleman once in a while, 'ee know," Joker replied as he carefully helped Doll out onto the floor.

She was at his chest in height but grew a little taller when she stepped onto his feet like she used to when she was younger. Joker led her into a slow dance, telling her jokes and the like to make her laugh. It was a wonderful time since he hadn't really had the time to spend with his youngest sister, and it lasted until she saw Snake separate from Gypsy and head back to his seat. She hopped off Joker's feet and pushed him towards Gypsy, causing him to bump into her and nearly knock her off her feet.

"I'm so sorry!" Joker had embraced her to prevent her from falling from the impact, then sent Doll a sour look.

Doll merely snickered behind her hand as she linked her arm with Snake's.

"I'll be joinin' Snake at the table, feel free to dance the night away you two!"

Even Dagger and Jumbo gave him thumb-ups some distance away. Joker looked down at Gypsy and cleared his throat as they took a step back from one another. The two perked up as the band started playing one of Joker's favorite dancing songs- it was a faster upbeat song that he absolutely loved- and she looked at him timidly.

"Erm, would you mind teaching me the steps of this dance? I'm not very familiar with English dances and unfortunately neither is Snake."

Joker laughed heartily and took her hand.

"No worries! This be an easy song to dance to, an' I'm sure 'ee can pick up the steps right quick." The two started facing each other with their entwined hands held out between them, he beamed at her. "'ee ready? An' 'ere we go!"

Though she stumbled over her feet a couple of times Gypsy caught on to the dance rather quickly and ended up laughing along with Joker as the two twirled and spun to the catchy tune. This reminded Joker of when they first met, especially during the tightrope walking part of her audition when he was teaching her in a similar way then as he was now. He remembered how he convinced himself that there was no way that the two could possibly enter a relationship. And now, two months later, he had realized that he couldn't imagine life without her, it was as if she was the only thing that kept him sane throughout Father's missions.

Joker didn't even know how long the two had been dancing until he noticed the area became less crowded and he realized that most people had left. He pulled out his pocket watch and looked at the time- the party had started at about eight thirty and it was now nearly midnight!

"Oi, Joker!"

The ginger haired man searched for whoever called his name and saw Peter waving at him, though what Peter was calling Joker over for he had no idea. But as he and Gypsy joined him at the table he saw not only Peter but also Wendy, Dagger, and Jumbo siting at the table with Beast, Doll, and even Snake gathered around. Peter held a bottle of whisky that he had (apparently) stolen from Joker's tent and some shot glasses.

"The 'ell do 'ee think ye're doin'?" Joker placed his hands on his hips and held a displeased frown on his face.

"Since we've got tomorrow off we figured we would 'ave ourselves a little drinking competition," Wendy explained as she looked over her shoulder up at him.

"That still don't explain why 'ee took tha' bottle from me tent."

Joker was very adamant about avoiding alcoholism, especially since he had often been at the brunt end of drunkards when theye had lived on the streets. He only had the bottle to drink on very rare occasions with Jumbo and Peter when they needed to discuss plans dealing with Father. Knowing that Peter found the alcohol meant that Joker needed to find a better hiding place. Joker was disappointed to say the least.

Peter waved him off.

"Come off it, we're celebratin' remember?" Peter then cringed at the glare Joker was giving him. "Sorry, but this is the only bottle of booze you'll let us drink from."

Joker had folded his arms over his chest while Peter sassed him, something that he was not in the mood for tonight. After a few beats of tense silence Joker finally relented with a sigh as he sat down.

"Fine." He said curtly, speaking with a manner that it was not 'fine'. "But the next time 'ee sneak into me room ye're a dead man."

Gypsy sat next to him and quickly changed the subject.

"I don't think I've ever played any English drinking games, how do they work?"

"Eh, we ain't too creative" Dagger explained. "We just take regular parlor games and add drinkin' to 'em."

The Romani woman blinked in response and Joker snorted.

"Is ev'ryone who's sittin' down playin' then?" Joker asked as he passed the shot glasses around.

"Aye, I would say so." Peter then shot Jumbo a confident smirk, "I'm gonna match you drink for drink, Jumbo. Just watch!"

Everyone scoffed at him or groaned and rolled their eyes. Jumbo let out a fake laugh before his face settled back into his neutral position.

"I don't want you dying from alcohol poisoning, Peter. Don't push yourself too hard just so you can beat me."

Peter stood up to lean his elbow on the table and looked at Jumbo with a pout.

"You're not my mom."

"Calm it down there, tiger," Wendy tugged on the back of Peter's shirt, knocking him back into a seated position in the chair. "So, what are we playin' first?"

"I wanna see you play 'Artist'!" Doll piped up. She had always found it entertaining to watch her elders get drunk while attempting to draw. They all looked at each other and agreed to it. "I'll get the paper and ink!" Doll chirped and scampered off.

"'Artist'?" Gypsy asked. "What's 'Artist'?"

Beast explained the game before Joker could.

"See, whatcha do is you gotta draw somethin' while bein' timed. The timer is done when someone correctly guesses what you're drawin', an' for ev'ry twenty seconds it took to figure out what you're drawin' you 'ave to take a shot. So if it takes us, say, forty seconds for us to figure out Joker drew a dog then 'e 'as to take two shots."

"What if you aren't good at drawing?" Gypsy asked quietly.

"Then you'd better prepare for one 'ell of a hangover tomorrow," Peter replied with a laugh.

Doll came limping back with a stack of papers, an ink well, and a pen. She set them all down on the table, though not without spilling ink on herself.

"For god's sake, you clumsy child," Beast groaned as she immediately stood to examine the damage Doll had done to her dress and frowned at the stains. "Hurry and change, we ain't gonna wait on you."

Doll bashfully laughed and limped off to her own tent.

"Should we each take a shot or two before we start?" Wendy suggested. "It would be more fun if we all started off equally tipsy."

Once again they all agreed and held their glasses out for Joker to pour whiskey into. Once everyone's glass was full they held them up and clinked them all together.

"Cheers to an amazin' performance," Joker said, which was followed by a chorus of 'cheers' before they all swallowed their shots.

Everyone but Jumbo cringed at the burning, Gypsy and Wendy coughed as tears swelled in their eyes.

"Been a while since I've taken a straight up shot o' this stuff," Joker said, though his voice was humorously strained from the alcohol no matter how many times he cleared his throat. "Round two?"

The other five people nodded and held their glasses out again for Joker to fill. They once again clinked their glasses together in 'cheers' and swallowed the golden liquid. The reactions were much worse, Beast and Snake quietly laughed.

"So-" Dagger cleared his throat and people laughed at his hoarse-sounding voice. "Who wants to go first?

"I can," Gypsy volunteered as she reached for a piece of paper and the pen.

Doll had just rejoined them and peered over Gypsy's shoulder. Joker pulled out his stopwatch and handed it off to Snake, labeling him as the 'designated time-keeper'.

"..."Ready?"...asks Keats." Gypsy nodded and the snake on Snake's shoulder held up his tail and then quickly lowered it so it was parallel to the ground, "..."Go!"...says Keats."

Gypsy immediately began to doodle on the paper while everyone watched over her shoulder. Joker had no idea what she was drawing, so far it was just an oval with four sticks coming out of it.

"Is it an animal?" Dagger asked. Gypsy nodded.

They all stood in confused silence as they continued to watch her doodle. She drew another smaller oval that would serve as the head with two little triangles jutting out from the sides as well as two other sticks. Soon they were all laughing at how bad of an artist Gypsy was, even she was struggling to focus on drawing she was laughing so much.

"I don't understand what it's supposed to be, is it a cow?" Joker asked between giggles.

"No!" Gypsy managed as she continued to doodle.

"Okay, it's an animal with horns. That's all I know," Peter sounded very focused on the game.

"Is that supposed to be a tail?" Doll asked as she pointed toward the end of the larger oval where a weird poofy form was. Once Gypsy nodded Doll burst into laughter.

"I'm not an artist, okay?" Gypsy was laughing just as hard as everyone around her was.

Once she drew the eyes of her creature it became easy to distinguish.

"OH! It's a goat!" Dagger called out.

Gypsy set the pen down and pointed at him.

"'ow long was that Snake?" Joker asked.

Snake stopped the watch and he and his snakes peered curiously at the device.

"..."A minute and three seconds."...says Brontë."

They all laughed as Joker began to fill up three shots for her. Gypsy folded her arms over the table and buried her head there, her shoulders shaking as she laughed.

"C'mon Gypsy," Joker nudged at her elbow. "Three shots down the hatch!"

Gypsy sat up, her cheeks red from embarrassment and looked at the drinks presented to her. She picked up the first glass, took a deep breath, and swallowed the shot, but not without cringing and whining about how terrible it tasted. She did the same for her last two shots before coughing and covering her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Who's next?" She asked hoarsly.

The game went on for an hour and a half. Joker had to take four shots because of his inability to correctly draw a tree, Dagger took one because he had decent enough art skills to draw a pig, Peter was such a lightweight that he nearly forgot what a dog looked like after only having two shots beforehand and passed out halfway between taking his next two shots, Wendy took a shot for her identifiable cat drawing, and Jumbo didn't need to take a shot since he only barely started his drawing before someone shouted out that he was drawing Betty the tiger. Needless to say, most of them were plastered- including Joker.

"Guys, me 'and is getting' cramped up fro' this game," Joker said, and though his words were comprehensible he was border-line drunk. He felt a pleasant buzz through his body as the alcohol moved through his system.

"Yup, I think it's time we all went to bed," Beast suggested as she helped Wendy carry Peter back to their shared tent. "Goodnight ev'ryone!"

They all grunted back in response, and Joker didn't really notice that everyone else had left until it was just himself and Gypsy at the table. He frowned as he picked up the now empty bottle of whiskey, turning it over so that whatever remaining contents it had dripped out onto the table.

"Oh shit, Joker! I didn't think you'd be here still!" Gypsy's words were a bit slurred, but Joker was still somehow able to understand her.

He looked around with confusion etched into his features.

"Well where else would I 'ave gone?"

She shrugged.

"I dunno. Everyone else has gone to their rooms, I thought you'd be in yours."

His room. Joker was suddenly very aware of how sleepy he was.

"'ave you seen me room? You wanna go there with me?" He stood up and nearly crashed down into the ground from bumping into the table. Joker let out a loud whine. "I ain't got an arm an' now me legs ain't workin' no more!"

He heard Gypsy cackling as she stumbled over to him and helped him up.

"Where's your tent again? You said I've never been there, so I haven't been there before and I don't know where it is."

Joker nodded in agreement and pointed to where his tent was.

"'t's jus' down 'ere, it ain't too far from 'ere."

The two tripped and stumbled along the way, laughing in their drunken stupor at themselves and each other until they made it to Joker's tent. Once inside he attempted to quickly remove his clothes but ended up getting caught in them- specifically the buttons, which ended up getting caught in his hair.

"'ow the 'ell does this contraption work?" He asked aloud as he struggled to free himself from his shirt and vest.

Gypsy laughed as he fell to the floor and held a hand out to help him up.

"Here, lemme help."

She guided Joker to sit on the bed so she could have better access at detangling the mess of buttons he was caught up in. He blushed as he felt her chest press against his face as she reached forward to free his hair.

"Why do you even have these braids?" She asked as she waved the braided and bleached strand of hair at him, tickling his face and causing him to laugh which in turn caused her to laugh as well. "Quite squirming, I'm almost done with your hair!"

"Then quit ticklin' me!" He replied between laughs.

Soon enough Joker was finally free from the tangled mess and was able to successfully remove his shirt and vest. He then flopped himself backward and let out a loud sigh as he shut his eyes, almost forgetting that Gypsy was in his tent as well.

"Can I stay here with you?" Joker nearly jumped out of his skin and sat up only to notice her standing awkwardly at the end of the bed. "I don't really wanna have to walk all the way to my tent in this state."

Joker felt a blush heat up his face and a nervous jolt run down his spine. She swayed in place and held her elbow in the opposite hand as she waited for him to answer. Joker distracted himself by kicking off his shoes and tossing them off into some corner of the room before hesitantly removing his trousers.

"Yeah, sure. I ain't got a problem with it!"

Gypsy grinned at his response, but turned around and held her hair up to reveal her dress being held together by several strings in a similar manner as a corset.

"Can you," she hiccupped, which was quite cute, "untie this for me? I can't really do it by myself."

Joker stood up so fast that he nearly fell over. He tried to calm himself down as he approached her and forced his drunken self to concentrate on untying her dress. He took the two yellow strings and began to pull apart the little bow that had been made, watching as the pretty fabric slowly fell apart to reveal her bare flesh to him. Sure, he had seen her mostly naked before, but as the dress fell to the ground Gypsy stepped out of the dress as well as her bloomers and turned unabashedly toward him. And unlike last time, Joker took the sight of her body in. She was certainly small with a lean figure, but she was still quite lovely. Her curled hair fell to the tops of her breasts which were supple enough for Joker to plainly see, with mauve colored nipples that stood erect from the sudden chill in the room. Her legs were a bit long for her body, there was a tuft of curls in that curious area between her legs, and when he looked into her jade eyes they seemed to sparkle. All in all, she was gorgeous.

"Can I have one of your shirts to sleep in?"

Joker nodded and avoided looking at her as he turned around to his trunk and pulled out a clean shirt. He jumped when he felt her press herself against his back and wrap her arms around his front.

"S-somethin' I can 'elp 'ee with?"

He felt her shake her head and nestle her face between his shoulder blades.

"You're warm."

He felt himself begin to harden at the feel of her soft naked form against his own half-naked body. Now was the perfect time to tell her how he felt, though he didn't pay attention to how drunk he was.

"Oi, Gypsy..."

He turned to face her, but was instead greeted with her cupping his face and pulling him down to her lips. Though he was surprised at first he eventually regained control over himself as much as he could manage in his drunken state. He moved his left hand to tangle in her hair and allowed his right hand to press her closer to him at the small of her back. He felt her sigh through her nose as it blew against his cheek and she tilted her head up to deepen the kiss. He dared to swipe his tongue against her bottom lip and she accepted, allowing their tongues to entangle together in a rather sloppy French-kiss. Neither one of the two seemed to mind the fact that the other tasted like the whiskey they had consumed.

Joker guided the two to the bed, though they ended up falling on it anyway due to Joker losing his footing. They broke the kiss and laughed breathlessly at the new position they were in; Joker lay on his back sideways upon his bed with Gypsy straddling him looking very sensual with her mussed curly hair framing her face. Joker sat up and ran his hands up from her knees to her thighs, then trailing up her sides. He curiously watched her react as his hands began to roam her body, she bit her lip and placed her arms around his neck. She tilted her head back and softly moaned as his left hand brushed her breast, which encouraged him to fully take her breast into his palm. He busied himself with kissing the side of her neck and teased her by trailing his prosthesis hand along her back and side.

"Joker."

His name was barely a whisper leaving her lips when he trailed his lips down to her collarbone and made contact with her nipple. Her fingers entangled themselves in his hair as he traced his tongue around the pert bud and lightly sucked. Joker was loving her reactions. He shivered with each moan and he felt fire within his lower abdomen. As he pleasured her she was also taking time to explore his own body: finding him to be especially sensitive along his ribs, collar bones, spine, and hair. When she harshly tugged on his hair while he switched to her other breast he had let out a surprised half-gasp-half-moan. He eventually found his chin being tugged upwards and his lips captured once again by Gypsy's.

Joker grinned devilishly as they drew back, wrapped his arms around her, and turned them over so that he was on top now which caused her to laugh gleefully. His lips and teeth trailed down her body, but he paused and looked up at her since he was unsure if he should continue.

"Gypsy," here it comes, he was going to confess to her even though he was drunk as hell. "I love 'ee, an' I ain't gon' do somethin' 'ee ain't wantin' t'do."

A moment of silence passed over them and Joker looked away. But when he did make eye contact with her, Joker saw that her eyes glittered and a happy smile was plastered on her face.

"Joker," she reached up and stroked his cheek. "I love you as well. I trust you."

Joker was the happiest he had felt in a long time. His heart swelled up and he pulled her into a much more passionate and heated kiss. He chuckled as he felt her hands slip into his undergarments, so he stood up and shimmied out of them so that he was finally naked as well. Gypsy propped her head with her right hand and turned onto her side to properly look at his body with lustful eyes, a lustful cat-like grin etched upon her face as she took the sight of him in. Joker then approached the bed and settled himself between her legs as he once again kissed at her neck. He paused to look her in the eye as he caught the fabric of his glove between his teeth and tugged it off. His now ungloved hand traveled to the trove of curls that rested between her legs and began to caress her everywhere except for the place that emitted heat. His lips once again journeyed down her body, causing her to writhe in pleasure as he touched her sensitive areas with his lips, tongue, and teeth. He stopped when an important question popped into his hazy mind and he looked back at her.

"This may be a bit of an uncomfortable question, but 'ee ain't got any sorta sickness do 'ee?

She rolled her eyes out of frustration, but Joker hoped that she understood what he was asking.

"No I don't, I'm clean," she whispered harshly. "I hadn't been with anyone aside from Gauriel. Please Joker, just get on with it?"

Satisfied with her answer he picked up right where he had left off, making sure to make this particular act special. Leaving a trail of hickeys down her body Joker finally sunk onto his knees off the side of the bed, resting on the floor as he pulled Gypsy toward the edge. He stared into her eyes as he pecked kisses from her knee on one leg and dragged his tongue down to her inner thigh, then skipping over her wet core completely in favor of giving the other leg the same treatment. Joker then sucked and nipped at the sensitive flesh of her inner thighs in hopes of riling her up. It ended up working as she gave an impatient tug on his hair, causing him to chuckle and look into her eyes again.

Finally, _finally_ , he stuck his tongue out and dragged it along her wet entrance. Gypsy let out a satisfied sigh, her thighs tightened around his head, and she entwined her hand between the bony fingers of his prosthesis while his other hand busied itself with caressing her entire body. She was a beautiful panting mess above him, whispering a variation of his name and some phrases in Romani that he correctly assumed were curse words. Her eyes fluttered closed and a pink flush began to blossom along her chest and shoulders. He moved his lips up to her clit and concentrated there as he slowly traced a finger along her entrance before sliding it in. This caused her back to arch and she reached down to dig her rather blunt nails into his upper back, which in turn caused him to moan. Her panting became higher in tone and she had flopped her upper body back against the bed. She reached out for a pillow to stifle her moans that continued to grow in volume. She practically thrashed above him, making it hard for him to keep contact with her clit so he instead stood up and hovered over her slightly as he readjusted his hand so that his thumb pressed against the sensitive bud instead.

The beautiful Romani woman clamped a hand over her mouth once the pillow got too stuffy for her to breathe properly and she threw her head back as Joker slipped a second finger inside her. She then began to reach for his member, but he pushed her hand away due to his philosophy of pleasing his lover before himself. Gypsy raked her hand through her hair, over her breasts, and even up his arms until her eyes snapped open. Joker felt her release on his hand and gave a satisfied smile at seeing her flushed body arch up as she orgasmed. Once she settled down she panted heavily and her eyes held stars. Looking up at him she repositioned herself so that she lay on the bed properly against his pillows with her legs splayed open and an inviting smile on her face. She crooked her finger at him sensually and Joker eagerly climbed back onto the bed.

What he hadn't expected was Gypsy flipping the two over so that she was once again straddling him. She adjusted the two so that Joker was sitting up against his headboard and pillows. She pressed their foreheads together and kissed him as she sunk onto him, enveloping him with her slick heat; the feeling causing the two of them to moan softly. Joker's hands settled upon her hips and her arms wound around his neck as she began to move.

The only noises that filled the tent were each other's names on their tongues, soft moans, and panting from their love-making. The two clung to each other as their bodies moved together, squeezing their eyes shut and moving faster and faster as pleasure assaulted the two of them. Joker rather roughly grabbed Gypsy's chin and pulled her into a fiery kiss a few moments before he felt her hit her second climax with him releasing after two more movements, his body stiffened and he gasped sharply as he climaxed. The two panted slowly and touched their sticky foreheads together as they regained their breath. They looked at each other and began to breathlessly laugh at what they had just done, their laughter grew much more hearty after Gypsy rolled off him and the two lay on their backs. Once they finally settled down sleepiness overtook them. Joker tugged back the blankets and covered the two of them before he tugged Gypsy into his arms.

"Looks like 'ee won't be needin' me shirt to sleep in after all," he all but purred into her ear, causing her to giggle in response. He kissed the top of her head and pulled her closer to himself.

"Joker?"

"Yeah?"

Gypsy readjusted herself so she could look up at him with her elbow propping her head up.

"All those things you said earlier, about how you love me? Do you really mean that, or are you just saying that because you're drunk?"

Joker scooted himself down so that he was face-to-face with her, propping himself up on his own hand so that he could face her properly.

"Am I drunk? Yes." Gypsy laughed. "Am I tellin' 'ee I love 'ee because I'm drunk? No," he tapped her nose with his prosthesis hand since he wasn't supporting himself with it. "I've loved 'ee for a while now, an' that ain't gonna change whether I'm drunk or sober."

Gypsy smiled in response and cuddled up to his side.

"I feel the same way. Drunk or sober I'll still love you too."

She reached up and pecked his nose, which made Joker giggle. The lovers then embraced one another and eventually drifted off into the most peaceful sleep Joker would ever receive.


	8. Chapter 8

*****Ahhh, writing drunk dialogue for the last chapter was so much fun. Just kidding, I have no idea what drunk people are like and just kinda assumed what it would be like from what I've seen on TV (even though I'm 21...what a sad life I live.). While I'm posting this story and its chapters I will be fixing any sorts of errors I may find in this story-which that may include grammatical, spelling, or plot errors. I also have been uploading this story onto Archive of Our Own once every couple of days, which will probably be more frequently uploaded than on here so check it out it there if you want. Anyways, this will be the second to last chapter so y'all better strap yourselves in because it's gonna be a hell of a ride!*****

 **Chapter Eight**

Joker woke up the next morning very confused and very hungover. His head pounded, his mouth was dry, he felt nauseous, and he vaguely remembered what all occurred last night. His right arm felt sore and he groaned when he realized that he didn't remove his prosthesis before falling asleep last night. He ran his hands over his face and groaned as he sat up, this was why he avoided drinking in the first place. Noticing his nakedness he jolted: why was he naked? Did he have sex with someone? Glancing down at his bedsheets answered his question: yes, yes he did. Where did they go? Looking around his tent and beside him on the bed he noticed nobody else was with him. Joker only rubbed his temples and tried to will his headache to go away.

"How are you feeling?"

Joker slowly turned to the opening of his tent and saw Gypsy enter with two mugs of what he assumed was hot tea in her hands. Her dark chocolate hair was a mess, she still looked a bit sleepy, and she was barefoot. He took note of how she was wearing one of his shirts and his mood instantly brightened at seeing how big his shirt was on her- it was almost a dress! She was so precious!

"I'm alright, 'ow 'bout yerself?" He replied as he scooted over on his bed so she could sit next to him.

She gave him a tired smile as she took her spot on the bed, choosing to sit cross-legged while he sat with his legs stretched out in front of him.

"Not too bad. I made this tea, it helps with hangovers," she said as she handed him his mug before she blew into her own and took sip. Joker nodded appreciatively before doing the same with his own.

An awkward silence fell over the two for a couple of minutes. Joker was about to ask the question until Gypsy bluntly stated:

"We had sex last night."

Joker rubbed at the back of his neck and she kept her eyes glues to the contents of her mug.

"Aye, that we did."

"Did you mean everything you said last night?"

She seemed hesitant to ask and her eyes swirled with nervousness. Joker set his mug of tea down on his nightstand and gently took her face in his left hand, turning it so that she was looking at him. He offered her a sincere smile.

"I meant ev'ry word I said. Though it took me a while to admit it to meself, I love 'ee Gypsy."

She let out a sigh and leaned back against the headboard as she closed her eyes.

"That's a relief. Here I thought it would be awkward if I had feelings for you and you didn't have them for me."

A quiet chuckle sounded from Joker and the two sat in comfortable silence. Joker reached out and held her hand in his left one, rubbing his thumb tenderly against her knuckles. She had set her mug on his nightstand next to his own before she climbed into his lap, tugging the shirt over her head to reveal her naked body to her sober lover. Chuckling at her antics he held her face in his hands and brought their lips together in a gentle kiss; everything felt perfect.

"Oi, Joker! You in 'ere? I wanted-"

Time stood still as Doll walked in to find the naked Joker and Gypsy lovingly kiss. Joker's heart stopped as they all stared at one another. After a moment of silence Doll's face slowly lit up as she realized what had happened.

"You two finally got together? I was wonderin' why you didn't come back to the tent last night Gypsy!"

In an instant Joker was up with his blanket curled around himself, covering her mouth with his hand and a deadly look in his eye that made Doll shake in her boots.

"If 'ee go tellin' anyone 'bout this," he quietly spoke in his serious voice, "I will absolutely end you."

And just like that Doll was out the tent. Joker ran an exhausted hand through his hair.

"Damn that Doll, I keep tellin' 'er not to jus' barge in like that."

At the sound of muffled laughter Joker turned around and looked at Gypsy, seeing her body quake as she tried to hold back her laughter. This in turn made him forget about his bitter feelings toward Doll and smile as well.

"Laughin' are 'ee?" As Gypsy snorted Joker crawled onto the bed, pulling her so that she was underneath him even though she continued to laugh and snort her heart out. "An' what is so funny to 'ee love?"

Gypsy reached up to her face and wiped away the tears before she settled her hands along his biceps.

"I just remembered what you told me when we first met, how Dagger's crush on Beast was difficult enough to handle. And yet, ironically, you're in love with me even though you said it wouldn't happen!"

Joker let out an amused chuckle and pressed their foreheads together.

"Aye. Guess ye're predictin' skills were correct after all."

Gypsy suddenly froze. Her jade eyes were wide and staring at nothing, but seemed to see everything at the same time. Her jaw was set and her breathing became slightly uneven; these were all telltale signs that she was having a vision. These always made Joker nervous, especially since they caused occasional fainting spells if she was walking and had one, but he found it usually best if he waited it out. He didn't realize that he had been holding his breath until she came to and her eyes focused on him again.

"What'd 'ee see?"

Gypsy merely yawned in response and stretched her arms above her head. She gave him a sleepy but content smile and tapped his nose.

"Nothing really, but it'll probably happen in a few years."

Joker rose a brow and repositioned himself so that his chin rested on his interlaced fingers that lay on her chest.

"What 'appened then?"

Gypsy reached down and began to play with his hair, something that could instantly relax Joker no matter what.

"Just some gentleman getting his head bit by Betty."

Joker perked up and gave her an incredulous look.

"Who in their right mind would get that close to a bloody tiger?"

Gypsy shrugged before she reached over and sipped her tea as she continued to run her fingers through his bright orange locks. Joker eventually found himself being lulled back into a content sleep.

*********************************************************A few months later*********************************************************************

Joker stepped out of the mess hall, smiling at the crisp autumn breeze he was met with. Autumn was definitely his favorite time of year: the weather wasn't too warm or too cool, the damned bugs were dying, and Halloween being just around the corner made the kidnappings of children much smoother- not that he enjoyed it more during the fall, it was much simpler to accomplish with all the children running around. It didn't help considering Gypsy would often sneak into his tent in the middle of the night and sleep with him, which was especially troublesome when he would have to go out in the night on Father's orders. If she was sleeping with him on a mission night, he would slip her some chloroform he'd get from Doc as an extra precaution to make sure she didn't wake up to see him covered in blood or anything of the sort. He hated the fact that he had to hide it from her, but there was no way she could understand. While he trusted her with most things, he couldn't trust her to keep Father's orders to herself. Knowing her she would guilt him into turning himself and the others in. He couldn't risk it, no matter how much he loved her.

Reminding himself that he had a show that he needed to focus on, he headed to the practice tent and entered to see Doll and Gypsy bringing some horses into the practice ring.

"An' what are 'ee ladies up to?"

Doll had just settled on top of her own horse as Gypsy began to climb on top of hers.

"We're thinkin' 'bout doin' a duo performance!" Doll explained. "Gypsy 'ere says that we could balance on top of 'orses while they run 'round durin' our act!"

Joker carefully watched as Gypsy very slowly stood up on the back of her horse, her arms held out to her sides in an attempt to keep her balance. Instead of the tied shirt she wore whenever she performed Gypsy wore a dress shirt that looked suspiciously like his.

"'ave 'ee done this sort o' thing before?" He asked Gypsy.

She stuck her tongue out in concentration as she straightened herself up on the horse.

"No, but I've seen others do it before. They've told me all I need to know so that I could be able to do this as well."

Joker didn't have the time to respond before he was called over by Dagger, who stood with the other first-tier members behind the curtain. Joker frowned but turned to look at the two ladies.

"I'll be right back. Be careful, alright?"

Doll waved him off, though she knew the reason for him leaving and was glad that she could instead practice with Gypsy for now. Once Joker made it behind the curtain they all gathered around a circle.

"Any news on that Phantomhive boy?"

"We found out where he lives," Wendy piped up.

"Yeah, so now all we gotta do is lure 'im out," Peter finished.

Joker nodded.

"What Father wants us to do is kidnap more children in 'opes of lurin' this "Queen's Guard Dog" out to 'im."

"That could be risky," Jumbo pointed out, "what if he has body guards with him? We all know what 'appened to 'is family."

They all nodded in solemn understanding. Before the next person could speak, they all heard a loud whiny from a horse and a startled cry accompanied by a loud 'thud'. Joker's heart dropped into his stomach when he heard Doll shout.

"Gypsy!"

Leaving the tent as fast as he could he saw Doll restraining the horse and leading him from Gypsy, who lay crumpled on the ground.

"What the 'ell 'appened?" Beast shouted as everyone hurried to the scene.

Doll started tearing up.

"I dunno! We were just practicin' an' she went into a 'andstand when the horse just randomly freaked out an' bucked 'er off!"

Joker quickly kneeled in front of Gypsy and gently placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Are 'ee alright?"

She grunted as she tried to stand.

"I'm fine, it was an accident. My fault actually, I think I made the horse uncomfortable."

Joker and Dagger helped her to her feet, but saw that she doubled over and clutched her ribs. Joker immediately scooped her up and held her bridal style.

"I'm goin' to take 'er to Doc, be sure to get the 'orses back in their pen."

He didn't even see the others nod before he ran off with Gypsy in his arms.

"I'm alright!" She argued and struggled to get out of his arms. "I don't need to go-" She cringed and dug her nails into his arm.

""ee are NOT fine," Joker said curtly. "Ye're goin' to Doc's, 'specially after a nasty fall from a horse. The 'ell were 'ee thinkin'?"

Gypsy shot him a glare before burying her face in his chest from the pain. Joker rolled his eyes at her in response and flung the flap to the medical tent open.

"Doc! I need 'ee quick!"

The man in the wheelchair looked confused at first, but that expression melted away into concern upon seeing Gypsy carried in Joker's arms.

"Goodness! What happened? Here, set her down on this bed."

Joker did as he was asked and set her down as gently as he could while Doc wheeled himself alongside them.

"She was bucked off a 'orse an' fell pretty 'ard while practicin'."

Gypsy didn't say anything as he sent her down on one of the beds nearby. Doc finally wheeled up to the side of the bed and pulled out his stethoscope.

"Where is the pain?" Gypsy gestured around her ribcage and Doc nodded. "I'm going to need you to lift her shirt so I can see the damage," he said while looking at Joker.

Joker nodded and gingerly lifted her shirt, exposing the shockingly discolored flesh around her ribcage. Doc frowned.

"You've clearly bruised your ribcage, but how else are you feeling?"

Gypsy slung her elbow over her face and Joker rubbed her shoulder to comfort her.

"Dizzy, light-headed, and I've been vomiting the past couple of weeks."

Doc rose an eyebrow and Joker grew concerned.

"What else accompanies the vomiting?"

She shrugged.

"I haven't paid much attention to it, but I'll mostly feel pain around my belly."

"And you're sure this wasn't caused by the fall?"

Gypsy nodded.

"I've been feeling ill for a while, but I make some tea and the nausea goes away."

Joker looked at Doc who pressed his lips together in thought.

"I'll need to listen to your lungs in order to make sure there isn't any internal bleeding. Help her sit up, please Joker."

He did as he was asked, gently helping Gypsy into an upright position. She grunted at the pain but settled into her new position. Joker continued to rub her shoulders as Doc plugged his stethoscope into his ears and pressed the flat end around her rib cage.

"Ye're doin' well Gypsy," he spoke quietly into her ear.

She closed her eyes and pressed her lips together, but nodded at his words. Her face occasionally contorted if Doc touched an especially painful area and grabbed at Joker's left hand to squeeze. Doc lowered his stethoscope down to her abdomen and listened around there for a bit before he nodded and removed it from his ears.

"Well, there are no signs of internal bleeding. And your baby seems to be alright."

Gypsy and Joker stared at Doc with shock etched onto their faces.

"Baby? What baby?" Joker asked in a serious tone.

Doc blinked at Joker in confusion.

"Here," he handed Gypsy his stethoscope, which she hesitantly placed in her ears. "Place that flat end right here on your belly."

Joker squeezed her hand as she listened and he prayed to whatever God was up there that it wasn't what Doc thought it was. Gypsy then looked at Joker with an unreadable expression and handed the device off to him. Joker plugged the it into his ears. There was a pause for a moment. Dread then began to pool in his belly when he heard a tiny but distinct heartbeat. He tossed the stethoscope as though it had burned him and it landed on the part of the bed that wasn't occupied by Gypsy.

"I believe that congratulations are in order here, Miss Gypsy." Doc smiled and began to once again wheel himself around the tent to collect a variety of medicines. "I know that this certainly isn't traditional since the baby will be born out of wedlock, but we have never really stuck to tradition here around the circus." He wheeled back to the couple with the small medicine bottles piled up in his lap. "This is so exciting! Most of the folks around these parts aren't all that interested in baby-making, so I've never gotten the opportunity to deliver a baby before. Tell me, do you know who the father of the child is?"

Gypsy's face paled significantly and she nervously side-eyed Joker while he stared blankly at the ground. The two had kept their relationship hush-hush, even swearing Doll into secrecy. Neither one of them wanted to cause any drama amongst the circus, and despite Joker wanting to publicly shower her with affection he was more than content with doing so in the privacy of his tent. The two hadn't had the time to be intimate aside from that one night when they were both drunk; the circus life had worn them out too much and performances left them dead-beat tired, so when Gypsy snuck into his tent they would simply cuddle up and fall asleep.

Doc glanced between the two, noticing the sudden change in atmosphere.

"Oh." Doc tried to lighten the mood with a smile as he began to hand Gypsy the medicines. "This is everything you'll need to ensure a healthy pregnancy. Take each of these once a day, preferably at night. This bottle of pills is to help ease the pain you may experience and will also help with your bruised ribs..."

Doc's words turned into white noise as Joker began to slowly comprehend the situation he found himself in. Gypsy is pregnant, he got her pregnant. How would he hide this from his brothers and sisters? How would he hide this from Father? He froze up when he thought of Father. What would happen if he found out? What if he wanted to take away their baby and add them to his...Joker nearly vomited at the thought. He didn't notice that he had abruptly gotten up and left Gypsy and Doc until he realized that he was now standing in his room.

Once he was in his tent, Joker completely lost it. He tangled his fingers into his hair and tugged at the strands as his breathing hitched, rapidly increasing in quickness and causing him to gasp for breath. His heart rate picked up and he felt like he was smothered by an invisible force that restrained him from breathing. Why hadn't he been more careful that night? Why had he thought it was a good idea to get drunk and have sex with Gypsy? Why did he love her so much? He knew how babies were created and he didn't regret making love with her that night, was he regretting it now?

Joker's thoughts conflicted too much and he felt increasingly overwhelmed with guilt, tears began to slip down his face. He fell to his knees and began to rock himself back and forth. He doesn't deserve Gypsy. He doesn't deserve a child. He doesn't deserve to be happy. His thoughts grew more and more dark. How could he possibly be a father when he and the others kidnapped so many children who had fathers of their own? How would he raise his child when he had no sane person show him how to be a proper father? The only father figure he had ever known was abusive and sick, what if Joker himself ended up being the same?

"Joker?"

He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Doll's quiet voice. Whipping his head to the entrance of his tent he saw her peeking through the flap. Shit. He couldn't afford to let his youngest sister see him look so weak and emotional after lecturing her about not letting her emotions affect her, he would look like a hypocrite. He quickly rubbed his face of any tears and sweat, forced himself to snap out of his panic, cleared his throat, and stood to face her.

"Watcha need Doll?" Damn, his voice was hoarse and sounded rough.

Doll's eyes swelled with tears and she darted into the tent and flung her arms around him, sobbing into his chest.

"'m so sorry Joker! I thought we could do it, I didn't mean to get her hurt!"

Joker now had to play the role of the 'big brother' and hugged the young girl back.

"It ain't yer fault love, 'twas an accident."

"Is she gonna be alright?"

"She'll be fine, love. As right as day."

"Then why were you crying?"

Joker had really hoped that she hadn't noticed his moment of weakness. Damn him for letting his emotions control him when he had others to be so strong for. He merely pet her head.

"'t's not important," he spoke softly, "but know that we're completing the mission from Father tonight. Be sure to tell the others." Doll's blue eyes glistened with tears and it always broke his heart to see her so sad. He pushed her bangs back and kissed her forehead. "Go on an' get to practicin', we've got a performance t'night so try not to think about it."

After a few hours and during the whole performance Joker felt as though he were simply going through the motions of his circus act. _Yes_ , he supposed to himself as he thought about his cheery persona, _all of this will always be an act._


	9. Chapter 9

*****Here we finally reach the grand finale! Thank you to everyone who has favorited and followed this story, you are all appreciated! This story has been so much fun for me to write and I've been looking forward to writing this angst-filled ending since I started this story (meh heh heh). Be sure to leave reviews if you want as well as any comments on this story. Warnings for this chapter: child kidnapping, gore, gruesome deaths, major character death, general angst, Baron Kelvin's deranged love for Joker, and my poor baby Joker suffering the consequences of his actions.*****

 **Chapter Nine**

The first-tier members met together in the middle of the night as they always did before setting off on their missions. Joker waited for everyone to arrive, all dressed in cloaks that carefully hid their faces and circus costumes should they be spotted. After he met the eyes of everyone around him, he gave the order:

"Let's get on with it then."

They all took off running into the night, Joker waiting for everyone to pass him before he followed them from behind. The group were top-notch performers, running a couple of miles to the nearest town was an easy feat. Once they all hid amongst the buildings and got a carriage ready from one of Father's "assistants", Joker perched himself on a nearby crate as he waited for a lone child to wander into their occupied area. He pulled out his flute, which was one of the first gifts Father had given him, and began to play _Tom, Tom the Piper's Son_ in hopes of luring a child with his music. Tense silence fell amongst them until they heard the soft scuffling feet of a young boy. Joker played a little louder as the boy approached, smiling once he stood in front of him.

"Hello there, little one. Are 'ee lost?"

This boy looked no older than six years old with a head of curly chestnut hair and shining brown eyes. Joker momentarily wondered what his own child would look like before he immediately banished the thought. The boy smiled up at him.

"Nuh-uh. I was out playing when I heard your flute, silly!"

Joker laughed.

"Do 'ee like to play?" The boy eagerly nodded. "Want to play with us then?"

The boy seemed confused and looked around.

"Us?"

"Why, me an' me crew o' course!"

Joker hopped off his crate and winked playfully at the boy. He transformed his flute into his cane with a puff of pink smoke, which emitted some drug that would help to activate the child's imagination, or so he's told. The boy already looked so enchanted by him. Joker dramatically twirled his cane between his fingers and held it up in the air.

"It's showtime!"

Right on cue Doll tossed a couple of sparks and leapt about elegantly. Peter and Wendy did tricks as they jumped from rooftop to rooftop.

"Hello there!" Wendy called out to the child.

"Welcome to Dreamland!" Peter cheered.

Joker knelt next to the child as the circus members' performed, laughing at the boy's expression as he watched in awe. Joker saw the carriage pull up into view and pointed to it.

"There be the carriage over the hill that shall take 'ee to Dreamland, ain't nothin' to fear there. Go on now."

Doll tossed flower petals and continued to dance as she led the boy to the carriage Jumbo stood next to. The boy laughed and eagerly took Doll's hand as they walked to the carriage.

"Oi! Stop right there!"

They all jolted and turned to see a brigade of police officers running at them and loudly blowing their whistles. _Fuck!_ They all looked at the child, who turned around to see what the noise was.

"Oh," he stated simply. "The clowns are coming!"

Joker looked to Doll and she picked the boy up, carrying the giggling child and setting him into the carriage. Jumbo knocked on the carriage and it started up, carrying the naïve child off to a place that was opposite of the Dreamland Joker spoke promised him.

Dagger pulled out his knives and began to throw them at the policemen, successfully killing every single one he hit. Beast used her whip and strangled a couple of them. Jumbo had lifted two of them in his hands and slammed their heads harshly into a nearby wall. Peter and Wendy flew through the air and easily sliced the throats of the policemen who were too close to them with the string they carried to help with their impromptu trapeze act. Doll drew out the hidden blade of her umbrella and, with a horror-stricken face, stabbed one or two officers. Joker watched the scene numbly with his arms folded across his chest and leaning against a building. Everything was going smoothly until Joker felt a heavy tug on his trousers and sent a cold glare to the dying officer who lay at his feet.

"Monsters, the lot of you," the officer spat venomously. "I hope you all burn in hell!"

Joker pulled his pantleg free from the man's grasp and knelt in front of the man.

"Burn in hell, 'ee say?" His voice was cold and devoid of emotion. "We're already livin' in it, mate."

He then grabbed the man's hair and slit his throat with the knife that was hidden within his cane, frowning when the officer's disgustingly warm blood spilled onto his hands, sleeves, and even splashing onto his vest. Joker absolutely hated having to kill people, but he watched with childlike curiosity as the light in the officer's eyes began to fade. He then stood up and turned to the others, who were all panting and covered in blood like himself.

"Scout the area, make sure there ain't any witnesses. Then we'll meet in the outskirts o' the town."

Everyone nodded and split into groups as they took off, Peter and Wendy in one, Dagger and Beast in another, and Jumbo and Doll in the last. Joker examined the scene he and the others created, adrenaline still pumping through him and making him shake. He had been doing this since he was sixteen and yet he could never get over the shakes he would get after murdering people. His empty violet eyes scanned for any more witnesses, but his heart nearly leapt out of his throat and a surge of cold panic shot up his spine when he heard an all too familiar voice.

"What is this Joker?"

 _No. No, no, please god no!_ He slowly turned around and was faced with the greatest fear of his life. Gypsy had stepped out of her hiding place in the shadows of an alleyway that was previously unoccupied, the moonlight exposed her frightened and pale face. The jade eyes he had grown to love were filled with a medley of shock, confusion, and anger. She still clutched her sides, her hands held onto the fabric of her shirt so hard that her knuckles turned white.

"What are 'ee doin' 'ere?" he asked coldly, praying that he was just seeing things.

She took a step toward him.

"Joker, just tell me what's going on. Why the hell did you run out of the medical tent? Why are you killing people-"

"I said what are 'ee doin' 'ere?" Joker yelled. He quickly grabbed her shoulders and pushed her against one of the walls of the building, pressing his blade against her throat. "'ee shouldn't be out 'ere! Why ain't 'ee in the medical tent?"

Gypsy was understandably shocked to see him yelling at her and now threatening to kill her. Her eyelids fluttered to keep the hot angry tears from spilling.

"Doc said I'd be fine as long as I take my medicine. I went to go into your tent but you were gone. I noticed that you had bottles of chloroform hidden in your tent, and Doc explained that some of my symptoms were a sign of usage. Have you been drugging me the whole time I've been with you? How long has this been going on Joker?"

Joker grit his teeth and readjusted the grip on his knife, pressing her farther against the wall and tightening his hold on her.

"How did 'ee find us?"

She frowned at the blade and angrily clamped her jaw before replying.

"I needed to speak with you after you ran out of the medical tent like that. I searched for you for hours, then I saw you and the rest of the first-tier members running off. I followed you here, thinking you lot were stopping into town."

The two glared at one another, neither one of them backing down. Gypsy daringly pressed her exposed throat against the knife hard enough so that beads of blood began to bloom along the blade's sharp edge.

"Go on, aren't you going to kill me like you've killed the others?"

Joker had never felt more conflicted than right now: the love of his life had just witnessed the atrocities he had been forced to carry out; if he didn't kill her right now she could report them to Scotland Yard, but if he killed her he wouldn't be able to live with himself. He didn't realize he was shaking so hard until he completely dropped the knife, he dropped himself into the ground along with it. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed his face against her belly where their child grew.

"I...I can't." He whispered. "I ain't gonna kill the love o' me life."

He felt tears fall down his face as he forced himself to make the toughest decision he had ever made. She didn't touch him.

"Tell me what's been happening. If you want this to work out for us and for our baby, I need you to be honest with me"  
Her voice faltered a bit, but it was still calm and demanding.

"I can't tell 'ee." He then stood up and walked with her, his hand resting against the small of her back and he began to urgently push her forward. "If the others find out they will kill 'ee, or they might report to Father. 'ee need to leave the camp."

Gypsy struggled against his grasp and when she finally freed herself she delivered a sharp slap across his face, stunning him into silence.

"I'm not going anywhere until you explain to me what's going on!" She shouted, not caring if she would make a scene and he would have to carry out killing a few more people. Joker ran his hands through his hair madly and walked in a small circle as she stood her ground fiercly with her hands on her hips. "I need to know: have you and the others been the ones kidnapping all of those children that are missing in the papers? Murdering the people who were trying to save the children? What kind of sick family are you?"

Joker snapped. He strode right up to her, once again grabbed her shoulders and began to shake her.

"I'm not the sick one!" He bellowed. "Father is! 'ee think we want to do this? We have to in order to survive, in order for others to survive! An' we can't leave 'im or else he'll kick the little ones out onto the streets! We do this to protect them!" His breathing sounded like hissing as he breathed heavily through clenched teeth. He took a moment to examine her appalled face, but heard more policemen coming to check up on the noise. Joker wrapped an arm around her shoulders as he began to run, guiding her forward once again. "Please, for your sake and for the sake of our baby, leave. Take your caravan and get out of the campground, you'll have to leave by dawn. Understand?" He stopped to take her face in his hands. "No one can know about any of this, and I'm afraid to find out what might happen should anyone find out."

Joker waited with baited breath as Gypsy processed the information. Her stare became cloudy and her breathing hitched, _shit not now!_ Joker panicked and began shaking her again.

"Oi, Gypsy! Come back to me, snap out o' it!"

Gypsy's eyes regained focus, but she seemed much paler than before and her breathing continued to hitch and tears finally began to stream down her cheeks. Joker almost asked what she saw, but she only nodded up at him.

"...I-I understand."

Relief washed over him and he kissed her, not caring that she didn't kiss him back.

"I love 'ee, so much. 'ee know that, don't 'ee?"

Gypsy simply nodded.

"I love you too, Joker."

And with that she quickly turned on her heel and walked away. He then sprinted off to meet with the others, careful to avoid witnesses that he was too tired to kill. Once he climbed up the hill to meet with the others Peter approached him with his arms folded across his chest.

"There you are, what took you so long?"

Joker pressed his lips together and cast his eyes downward. Everyone immediately knew that something was wrong.

"Joker?" Dagger asked quietly. "Did something happen?"

He took a slow inhale through his nose.

"No. Nothing happened. Let's go home."

The group trudged back home in exhausted silence. Once they returned to the campground they all went to their respective tents. Joker slowly changed out of his bloody clothes and tossed them into a hamper, he would have to wake up early and do his laundry. He pulled on his nightclothes and crawled into bed, staring at the empty space next to him where Gypsy had resided for the past few months. Everything would be just like before, only he would feel much more empty. And the next morning Gypsy had packed up her belongings into her caravan. She had woken Snake up so he could take all of his snakes out before she could start packing, which was quite a melancholy sight. Doll's eyes were filled with sadness as she and the other first-tier members and Snake surrounded her in the caravan to say their goodbyes.

"Where will you go?" She asked between hiccups from crying.

"Perhaps Italy," the Romani woman replied as she took the last of her boxes from Jumbo. "Or maybe I'll visit India and learn about my original heritage."

"Romani people ain't from India," Peter said incredulously. "They're from Romania or from Egypt, that's why they're called gypsies."

"You're an idiot," Wendy responded as she smacked the back of Peter's head.

Joker and Gypsy hadn't made eye contact with each other the whole time she spent packing, but she smiled to everyone else.

"Are you sure you don't wanna stay with the circus?" Dagger asked, a look on his face that matched that of a kicked puppy. "You were doin' real well."

She looked at him with an equally sad look on her face.

I'm afraid so, I unfortunately wasn't planning on staying here long."

Gypsy set her box last box down and clapped her hands to rid them of any sort of dust they may have gathered. They all migrated from inside the caravan and gathered around the porch and on the stairs. Tears sparkled in everyone's eyes, even Beast's, to have to say goodbye to their friend. She hugged each member one-by-one, hugging Doll the tightest, before they each headed off. This once again left Joker and Gypsy alone together in an uncomfortable silence; awkward for Joker, anyway, Gypsy was still hostile after everything that happened last night. She ignored him as she hopped off the stairs and began to hook Bo up to the caravan with a haughty air. This made Joker feel even more guilty, he stepped off the stairs and began to follow her.

"Gypsy, please try to understand. I don't want 'ee to leave, but we ain't got a choice."

"You made that perfectly clear last night, if I remember correctly."

She spoke curtly and in an angry tone. She avoided looking at him at all and roughly brushed past him as she continued to set everything up. Joker wasn't going to give up on her that easily and rushed to her side, getting annoyed and angry as well.

"I told 'ee 'bout the situation I'm in," as she climbed the stairs back up onto the porch of her caravan he grabbed her hand in his left one, ignoring the harsh glare she sent him.

"Don't 'ee understand? I'm terrified of what Father would do to you...to our baby, should he find out about us. This 'urts me as much as it 'urts 'ee, an' I cannot grieve enough that we 'ave to part like this," he climbed up the steps and stood next to her as she had turned her head to watch him.

He placed a hand, his real hand, on her cheek and she leaned into it, covering the back of his hand with her own. Through the anger and pain that filled her eyes, those beautiful hues of green gazed back at him with longing adoration. Joker leaned closely into her, feeling her soft breaths brush against his lips before she finally closed the gap, much to Joker's surprise and delight. Happy tears blurred his vision and he smiled into the kiss that he wanted to savor. He closed his eyes while tightening the hold he had on her and eagerly pressing her body closely to his. It pained him when they had to part.

"I love 'ee, so much, Gypsy. More than 'ee can ever know."

Gypsy gave him the teasing grin that he had grown so fond of.

"Did you get that from one of Beast's romance novels?" He laughed heartily, and smiled when she snorted before she pressed their foreheads together. "I love you just as much Joker. Even though I know that you do such horrible things, I also know that your heart is in the right place," she placed her hand over his chest where his heart lay beating. "I guess that's what true love is, isn't it?"

The two settled with gazing at one another before Joker forced himself to tear his eyes away from her and look down at his pocket watch, frowning when he saw that he needed to get going. He looked up at her with regret dancing in his eyes. She looked down at Bo and she took the reins in her hand

"I'm going to miss you, and all of this," she gestured to the circus campground as she sat herself on the porch.

Joker frowned at her words, but looked down at her belly and smiled as he knelt down to her. He pulled her into an embrace, pressing her back against his chest.

"Aye, an' I'm goin' to miss 'ee," he ran his hand down to her belly, "the both o' 'ee."

"Joker!" They heard Beast call. "Come on, we need you!"

His head snapped back to her and his eyes began to search her face frantically as if he were looking for some way to have her stay with him, even though he knew there would be no way they would be safe. Gypsy flashed him an understanding smile and cocked her head to the sound of Beast's voice.

"Go on. You've got a show tonight, best not lose your concentration because of me."

Joker couldn't stop staring at her, wanting to capture every last glance he could have of her- though walking down the stairs backwards was a bad idea, causing him to miss a step and tumble his way into the ground. Gypsy laughed so hard that she snorted several times, gasping for air between each fit of laughter and snort. Joker was in love with her, he was so in love with her.

And with a broken heart he watched as the love of his life snapped the reins and lead Bo away.

And just like that, all of the light that was once in his life was gone.

*******************************Sorry for all of these time skips, but fast forward to a little more than a year later*********************************

Letting out a sigh, Joker forced himself to get out of the bed that Father allowed him to use whenever he visited. He as he walked up to the mirror to dress himself properly he took a moment to observe his appearance. Nothing much has changed, but there were dark purple rings under his eyes from the even more lack of sleep he had been getting since Gypsy left. He couldn't believe how in love he could be with someone, and it reflected in one of the black-and-white photos he held so dearly. On top of each of the photos he had written "August 21st 1887. Gypsy's First Ever Performance". He remembered that after the show he wanted to take a picture with her to commemorate her successful performance and she shyly agreed. Joker hadn't realized that she has been staring at him with so much love in her eyes until after the picture was taken and ready, which had been the morning after the night they made love. He had teased her about the way she looked at him, but he kept it because he thought it was sweet. He had three different photos: one with the first-tier members, including Gypsy and Snake with all of his snake friends (she had insisted on including him), one with just himself and Gypsy laughing at a joke Dagger had made before the photograph snapped, and the one of just himself and Gypsy.

Now that he was looking at the same photographs, he felt his heart twinge with guilt. Sometimes he thought about her, thinking about how she was living now and wondering if she ended up delivering the baby. Joker often found himself day dreaming of what their child looked like, even sketching how they may look and what their family would be like if they had stayed together: perhaps she had given birth to a beautiful baby girl with his ginger hair and Gypsy's lovely eyes. She would rarely cry and would happily giggle whenever she saw either one of her parents. She would grow up to be a beautiful and smart girl, helping with the circus on occasion when she wasn't so focused on school work. Or perhaps Gypsy had given birth to a bright-eyed baby boy with her tight dark curls and Joker's violet eyes. He would cry on occasion, but would calm down immediately whenever Joker cradled him and sang lullabies to him. As he would grow older perhaps Gypsy could teach him her trade of fortune telling, or maybe Joker would teach him how to juggle. No matter the sex of the babe, Joker knew that himself and Gypsy would love them just as much as they loved each other, and they would be a perfect family.

Joker could day dream all he liked, but he knew that a family of his very own was not his to have. He tried not to let the thoughts bother him as he continued to get ready to meet with Father, who would yell at and berate him if there was a single hair out of place. He straightened out his bowtie before he pulled open the door to leave his bedroom and lighting a candle so he could see better in the darkened hallway. His footsteps echoed eerily in the nearly empty home Father lived in, and had to control himself to not hurry along because of how creepy it felt. Once he arrived at Father's study he knocked three times like he had been trained to do.

"Who is it?" A throaty voice wheezed, though it was muffled by the doors.

"It's Joker. 'ee needed to speak with me."

"O-oh! Joker, my boy! Yes, please do come in!"

The door to the study creaked open as Joker stepped in, and he tried his damndest to not cringe at the sight of the man who took him in nine years ago with two mindless child servants, both of them young girls, standing on either side of him with their eyes empty and void of any light. The once respectable looking man was now almost completely covered with bandages aside from the left eye, nose, and mouth that was exposed. His arms were perfectly workable, but his legs had been sawed off and were now useless stumps waiting to be replaced with new "beautiful" legs. He had gone through so many surgeries that he would be absolutely unrecognizable if he ever completely healed. Though because of these surgeries he was more prone to sickness and infection since he never took care of himself, often relying on Joker or the child servants to help him complete menial everyday tasks. Father was so incredibly frail and sick that a dark part of Joker just wished that he would die off already.

He stepped up to Father and bowed in the proper manner he was taught when he was trained to be Father's butler.

"I do not wish to sound rude, but is there a particular reason as to why you summoned me, Father?"

He couldn't help but flinch when he heard the sound of Father's coughing fit.

"You dare to speak to me as if I have some other motives than to simply speak with my son?" He asked incredulously, his voice cracking as he spoke. "I hardly ever spend any time with you, you're so busy with the circus. And this is the thanks I get for plucking you out of the gutter and raising you as one of my own?"

Joker prevented himself from rolling his eyes, Father would always give the same speech whenever Joker spoke even the slightest bit out of line. But he simply lowered his head.

"I apologize, Father." He always had to speak so formerly. "I did not mean to upset 'ee."

He dared to look up at Father, who let out a _humph_. Joker watched and waited as the servants prepared Father and Joker each a cup of tea while Father read the daily paper. Father gestured to the table he sat at.

"Come my boy, take a seat and have some tea with your old father."

Loker did as he was asked and took his seat at the right side of Father, who sat at the head, as the servants placed the two cups of tea in front of the men. Silence fell over them as they drank; well, Joker took quiet sips while Father slurped loudly and messily. Father was like a child, Joker had to pick up a napkin and blot away any access liquid from Father's face.

"Have you read the paper today, my boy?" Father suddenly asked.

"No, I haven't had the chance to yet," came Joker's reply as he settled back into his seat.

Father handed him the paper he was reading, which was opened to the center pages.

"Would you mind reading this paragraph aloud to me? I'm afraid I'm too old to read it properly."

Joker gave Father an annoyed look; he had just spent the last couple of minutes reading the paper just fine by himself, but Joker held his tongue and did as he was asked. He cleared his throat before he read aloud.

"Brutal crime of _burning_ hatred! Scotland Yard had entered upon a scene they believe to be a hate crime on the outskirts of Covent Garden, a place which is a well-known gatherin' place for gypsies to farm an' celebrate. They found that several gypsy tents and caravans havin' been burnt to a crisp, an' witnesses report hearin' a group o' men shoutin' racial slurs." Joker grew disgusted at how cruel people could be.

"Go on," Father grew rather bouncy and eager for him to continue reading, always delighting in the macabre and disturbing news stories.

Joker felt something was wrong and dread began to pool in his gut, but he continued to read.

"Witnesses say that they saw the group o' men trap a young woman an' 'er babe in a caravan, pictured. They 'ad barred 'er doors an' windows. Witnesses say that they heard the woman shouting for help and a baby crying for about fifteen minutes before the smoke finally overtook them and killed the two."

The dread only grew as Joker dared to look at the photo, suddenly feeling a wave of shock come over him and his breath caught itself in his throat. He felt as though he would get sick and his eyes brimmed with hot tears. The image showed a burnt caravan, a very black color in the black-and-white image, with very familiar curved lettering that was too hard to read now. Joker's heart pounded in his ears and his hands began to shake as he was able to make out just one word:

Gypsy's.

Joker lowered his head in an attempt to control himself and hide his tears from Father, who simply clapped and laughed.

"Go on! What else does it say?"

Joker took deep and labored breaths as he continued to read, though his tears blurred his vision and made the words squiggly.

"Scotland Yard detectives were too late an' asks for anyone with any identification of these victims. Fred Abberline had this to say to the crime-doers: "Hatred has unfortunately triumphed this night, but please know that this does not in any way reflect the views of the Queen nor the people of England on the Romani people. We will find the men who did this and bring justice to the victims"..."

At this point tears began to drop onto the newspaper, Joker could not hold them back any longer. Father had stopped his laughing and clapping and instead settled on calmly drinking his tea.

"Why are you crying, my boy?"

Joker couldn't respond and only resorted to burying his face in his hands and sobbing, not caring if Father would yell at him for it. Joker had lost the love of his life before, but knowing that she was killed in such a horrible way absolutely broke him.

"Joker, look at me."

The young man sniffed pathetically and stared into the frighteningly cold eyes of Father.

"I know who that woman was to you. I know that she birthed your son, and I know she saw what you did that night."

Joker had never felt more terrified by this man than hearing him whisper such words with so much malice in his voice.

"H-how did you know?"

Father than viciously grabbed Joker's chin and pulled him close, an angry snarl on his face and a mad look in his one eye.

"Don't you dare think that you can ever hide anything from me, I know everything that goes on in the circus." He then pulled Joker into a sickeningly sweet hug that lasted an uncomfortable amount of time, eventually drawing back into an embrace he reached out and wiped away the young man's tears. "She could have taken you away from me, my precious Joker."

Joker's breathing grew labored as he processed what the old man was telling him. He felt himself surge with paranoia and his head began to spin. _Father was involved with the death of Gypsy and their son? He knew all along? How did he know? How did he find her? How could he have done this?_

"But...but I loved her,"

Joker's voice was a ghost of a whisper, but was loud enough for Father to hear. The elderly man delivered a hard slap across Joker's face with enough force to knock him out of his seat.

"You idiot! You don't even know what love is!" The crazed man bellowed. "You think an ugly gutter-rat like you deserves to be happy, after everything you've done?" He then wheeled up to Joker and grabbed his hair, and Joker didn't dare to fight back. "She's dead because of you, you selfish, spoiled child! You allowed your emotions to drive you toward her and away from me! After everything I've done for you, after I took you in and gave you a working arm and showered you with affection, you think that you can go behind my back and betray me like this? Perhaps I should throw out some of your siblings at the workhouse as punishment for your selfish actions!"

Father roughly tossed Joker into the ground and began to wheel himself towards the door. In a state of panic Joker sat up and crawled on his knees to Father, tightly gripping at the man's trousers as he begged.

"Father, please don't! This is my fault, it's all my fault! Don't let the others suffer because of weakness."

The deranged man paused, slowly turning his head to look down at Joker.

"Weakness, you say?" Father wheeled himself to face the crying young man. "My dear boy, oh my precious Joker. I love you, you must know that. But some things in life are simply unattainable. Now," he settled back into his wheelchair, "have you learned your lesson about keeping secrets from me?"

A maddening flurry of emotions raged inside of Joker: he wanted to yell and scream, he wanted to call Father out for being hypocritical in his obsession to obtain the Phantomhive boy, he wanted to kill this abusive man for taking away the only real sense of joy that was part of his life, but he mostly wanted to sob his broken heart out in mourning. Instead, Joker looked up at Father. But, there was no way out. There was no way Joker could bring himself to carry out any of the things he thought of without being reprimanded, this man had done so much for him and his family in the past. He felt all his emotions hit him at once, and then he felt nothing. He resided himself to bowing, on his knees and completely at the mercy of the crazed man before him.

"...yes, Father."

 *****Aaaaaaaand scene! You see what I did there in the end? Eh, eh? I had the whole tragic ending planned out before I actually wrote the story. I know that I made that love scene smoochy and romantic, but Joker deserved some happiness and romance before it all went to shit! It was incredibly difficult to match the insanity of Father within this particular story, but I hope that I got his characterization right!**

 **Let me know what you guys thought of the story. I'm not going to change the ending because it was meant to mirror the general tragedy of the original circus arc! BUT! I may right some cutesy one-shots, if y'all want some fluff to make up for the angst I wrote.*****


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